Elina Svitolina, the twenty-three-year-old Ukrainian and #4 seed, overcame mediocre play and an equally erratic opponent to progress to the third round of the Australian Open. The odds-on-favorite was anything but on for most of this three-set match.

Katerina Siniakova, the twenty-one-year-old from the Czech Republic, currently ranked #59, came to Melbourne with a great deal of confidence having reached the final for the second consecutive time in Shenzhen, losing to world #1 Simona Halep. Svitolina was also brimming with confidence following her recent victory in Brisbane where she defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in straight sets.

Svitolina, in their only previous meeting in the first round at last year’s US Open, defeated Siniakova in three lopsided sets. The Ukrainian knew she was in for a protracted battle given Siniakova’s impressive performance last season during which she defeated three top ten players and captured her first two WTA titles.

Svitolina, without question, was one of the break-out stars last season with 5 titles including three Premier 5 events. While she has performed exceeding well at the second-tier tournaments, she has failed to excel at the slams having never progressed further than the quarters.

Although she started the match with an ace and held at love, the Ukrainian failed to convert any of the four break points she held in the 6th game and lost the set 4-6. She played passively and too far behind the baseline for most of the match. In addition to her reluctance to consistently move forward, she failed to take advantage of Sinaikova’s unreliable and technically unsound first and second serve.

Although she rebounded to take the second set 6-2, Svitolina seemed to rely on her opponent’s mounting unforced errors rather than constructing points and going for winners. The third set produced more of the same. Svitolina broke in the second game and held to take a 4-0 lead and would close out the set 6-1.

Siniakova would finish the match serving at 53% first serves in and a dismal 43% on second serve points won. Svitolina’s numbers were not much better; 58% first serves in and 49% on second serve points won. Siniakova was much more aggressive off the ground producing 20 winners compared to just 7 for Svitolina.

If the Ukrainian hopes to surpass last year’s performance down under and reach the fourth round, she must seriously up the ante and take it to her opponent. Passive play is a recipe for defeat and the quest for her first grand slam title will once again elude her.

She will most certainly feel the pressure in her following match when she takes on fellow Ukrainian, Marta Kostyuk, a fifteen-year-old phenom and reigning Australian Open junior champion.

Kostyuk received a wild card into the qualifying tournament and with three wins, became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996 and the youngest to reach the third round of a slam since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the 1997 US Open.

Set your DVR for 7 pm EST January 18th for what promises to be an enthralling and memorable match.