Now we get to witness the theory in action. Elina Svitolina, the Ukrainian world No.4 widely touted a Grand Slam champion in waiting and a favourite at this Australian Open, is now entering the uncharted territory of a quarterfinal at Melbourne Park after beating Denisa Allertova 6-3 6-1.
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The 23-year-old, who has beaten three qualifiers to reach the last eight, will face Belgian world No.36 Elise Mertens for a place in her first Grand Slam semifinal.
“Thank you guys for staying so late,” she told the Rod Laver Arena faithful at 00:55 AEDT. “I’m pleased with my performance here. It’s not the first time I’m playing as one of the favourites – at Roland Garros I was one because I won Rome. It's more pressure, but it also gives you that extra confidence.
“But everyone at this stage is ready to play – everyone deserves to be in the next round. I’ll just try to do my best and see how it goes.”
Svitolina’s victory rounded out a cosmopolitan fourth round that featured players from 14 nations, with only the Czech Republic represented by multiple players. That the Czech trio should include Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova – set to face off for a place in the quarterfinals on Monday – was hardly a surprise; that Allertova, a qualifier who had never previously won back-to-back matches at a major, should be the third was more of a turn-up.
Yet such was the carnage in a quarter of the draw that saw seven of the eight seeds fail to reach the third round, it followed that No.4 seed Svitolina should face a third qualifer for a place in her first Australian Open quarterfinal. It’s been something of a charmed run for the Ukrainian, who has dropped just one set en route to the last eight.
With the last match on Rod Laver Arena following the already-delayed showstopper between Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios, the on-court clock hit 23:57 as the players took their positions for the first point – not quite as late as Mertens and Daria Gavrilova’s second-round showdown, which began at one minute to midnight, but still. The temperature had dipped to 21 degrees, but the air was still humid as the black-booted Svitolina snatched a break in the opening game, only to give it straight back.
From then, however, the contest was firmly on Svitolina’s racquet. Allertova is a fine player on the front foot, but couldn’t do enough to unsettle the effervescent 23-year-old, who gave up just two more games over the course of the contest.
It wasn’t always pretty – the world No.4 wiped out her 17 winners with 18 unforced errors, and will hope to drag her first-serve conversion rate north of Sunday’s 55 per cent in the quarterfinals – but Svitolina was certainly effective, answering every question put to her by Allertova.
Svitolina’s set point at the end of the opening set summed up the problem for the world No.130: fine when dictating and happy to mix it up to keep the Ukrainian off balance, but when the tables were turned and she was asked to scramble – as she was when the ball clipped the net cord and dropped at her feet – she struggled to adjust, tamely framing the floating ball into the net.
The second was a runaway affair, Allertova managing to avoid the ignominy of a love-set with a hold for 5-1 before Svitolina served out the victory in 57 minutes.
Now the real tests begin for Svitolina. Hobart champion Mertens may have started the tournament without a seeding, but her run to the quarters guarantees the world No.36 a new career-high ranking in the mid-20s next Monday. With victories over Gavrilova in front of a fervent Rod Laver Arena night crowd, and Alize Cornet as the on-court temperature crept past 40 degrees, the Belgian heads into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal battle-hardened and unbeaten though nine matches in 2018.
“I know that she had a good start to the year,” said Svitolina, looking to take her own unbeaten run to 10 matches after winning the Brisbane International title in the run-to the tournament. “She’s playing good tennis, so it’s going to be extremely tough. But I’m prepared, and it will be a good match. I hope I’m going to show my best.”