Svitolina battles back to continue US Open run

Svitolina reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last month

Elina Svitolina came from behind to beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and reach the US Open third round.

Pavlyuchenkova responded by winning the next three games to set up a nervy finale but Svitolina won two tense service games to progress 5-7 6-4 6-4.

"It was a very tough match," Svitolina said. "I didn't play so well. I was up and down."

At a change of ends in the second set, Svitolina asked the chair umpire for updates on her husband Gael Monfils, who was playing Andrey Rublev in the men's singles at the same time.

"I was just trying to get some little motivation from him and change my head because I was not playing my best," said Svitolina, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last month having returned to the tour in April after giving birth in October.

"I had to bring a different energy and was thinking about him a little bit."

Elsewhere, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova eased through by beating Italian Martina Trevisan 6-2 6-2 - the Czech ninth seed's ninth Grand Slam win in a row.

American Madison Keys, the 2017 runner-up, was similarly comfortable in brushing aside Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-2 in 54 minutes.

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