Elina Svitolina defeated Ann Li in the round of 16 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals. The hard-court match, with $9.4 million in prize money on offer, ended in straight sets, according to api.tennis.
Both sets followed a similar pattern. The Ukrainian controlled play from the opening games and did not allow her opponent to drag her into a third set. The margin in the first set was four games, then narrowed to three in the second, but that did not affect the outcome.
Road to the quarterfinals
Svitolina, the tournament’s sixth seed, has moved through the draw without dropping a set since her opening match. In the round of 64, she lost the first set to Katerina Siniakova 1-6, but then won two in a row, 6-4, 6-2. In the round of 32, Maria Sakkari fell to her 4-6, 5-7. The match with Ann Li was the Ukrainian’s third win at the Beijing event. Before that, she exited the US Open in the third round, where she lost to Anna Kalinskaya in three sets.
Ann Li, seeded 21st, stopped one step short of the quarterfinals this time. Before meeting Svitolina, the American beat Ashlyn Krueger, 6-4, 6-2, and Belinda Bencic, 6-4, 6-3. According to rank.tennis, Svitolina is ranked sixth with 5024 points, while Li is 29th with 1648 points.