3 Ukrainians advance to second round of Australian Open

Three Ukrainian tennis players have cruised past their opponents in the first round of the Australian Open, the first of the four major tennis tournaments of the year, which began on Jan. 14 in Melbourne:

Elina Svitolina, Dayana Yastremska and Lesya Tsurenko all advanced to the second round without dropping a set.

The 24th seed Lesia Tsurenko, 29, was the first Ukrainian on court, on Jan. 14, against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, 24.  Tsurenko, who entered the tournament after reaching the finals of Brisbane International, a tournament held a week before the first tennis major, had the toughest test, taking more than 90 minutes to see off the young Russian 6:4, 7:5.

Svitolina, 24, Ukraine’s top tennis player and world number 6, entered the tournament a day later, taking slightly more than an hour to move past Swiss player Victorija Golubic, 26, with an emphatic 6:1,6:2 win.

The third Ukrainian to get past the first round was the 18-year old Yastremska, who beat Samantha Stosur, the Australian former top-10 seed, 7:5, 6:2. The victory was Yastremska’s first win in a non-qualifying round of a Grand Slam tournament.

While three Ukrainians advanced, a fourth, Kateryna Kozlova, 24, is out, having lost in three sets 6:4, 4:6, 6:2 to Victoria Kuzmova, 20, from Slovakia.

In the second round, Tsurenko will face Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year old rising star from the United States, in a match scheduled for Jan. 16.

Yastremska was drawn against Carla Suarez Navarro, 30, while Svitolina will play Kuzmova. Both matches will take place on Jan. 17.