Australian Open 2021: Classy Svitolina beats Coco Gauff in straight sets to progress in Melbourne

Updated 11/02/2021 at 10:43 GMT

Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina made good use of limited opportunities against American teenager Coco Gauff to reach the Australian Open third round with a 6-4 6-3 victory on Thursday. Gauff, much fancied to cause a potential upset given her immense talent, battled very well with her opponent for much of the match.

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine celebrates winning match point in her Women's Singles second round match against Coco Gauff of the United States during day four of the 2021 Australian Open at Melbourne Park

Image credit: Getty Images

Elina Svitolina secured her progress through to the third round of the 2021 Australian Open with a straight-sets win over rising star Coco Gauff.

The 16-year-old Gauff, the youngest player in the main draw at Melbourne Park, took the Australian Open by storm last year, taking down Venus Williams, Sorana Cirstea and Naomi Osaka en route to the fourth round.

But she failed to find a way past the steely Svitolina, who converted two out of her three break point opportunities against the big-hitting world number 48 to seal the fate of the match in their first meeting.

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Gauff had four break point chances of her own but could not capitalise as Svitolina set up a clash with Kazakh 26th seed Yulia Putintseva, who beat Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-4 1-6 6-2.