Motivated Elina Svitolina sets Wimbledon clash with equally driven Sofia Kenin

When the Wimbledon women’s draw came out, seventh seed Coco Gauff and 28th seed Elise Mertens were projected to meet in the third round. Instead, a wild card and qualifier—both with plenty of worthy credentials—will face off for the right to reach the second week.

Kenin backed up her win over Gauff by defeating Wang Xinyu, 6-4, 6-3, on Court 4 Thursday. Despite finishing her day with a -6 differential in winners to unforced errors, Kenin found ways to get herself across the finish line. The former world No. 4 managed to win 15 of 22 points on her second serve and created nearly twice as many break point opportunities as Wang, ultimately converting four of seven.

“I'm super excited. Just trying to prove some people wrong,” Kenin said afterwards in her press conference. “Just super proud of myself with the way I really fought through to get here and keeping the momentum going. Yeah, I'm just putting in the hard work and it's paying off.”

The 2020 Australian Open champion arrived to play the grass-court major ranked No. 126, a position that required her to come through the qualifying stage at Roehampton. Kenin won all three of those contests in straight sets, including a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Taylor Townsend, to punch her ticket into the main draw. The 24-year-old was 0-3 in second-round encounters at SW19 before advancing past Wang.

Up next? Elina Svitolina, who is now 6-1 in Grand Slam matches since returning from maternity leave in April.

Svitolina fought off Elise Mertens in a topsy-turvy showdown to secure a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 victory. The lopsided trio of sets resulted in the 76th-ranked wild card spending nine fewer minutes on court than in her 6-4, 6-3 opening victory over five-time champion Venus Williams. In her final set against Mertens, Svitolina took 17 of 21 points on serve and her consistency played into the Belgian spraying 13 unforced errors.

A semifinalist here in 2019, Svitolina improved to 13-8 in her career at The Championships. On her comeback to the WTA Tour thus far, Svitolina has already picked up her 17th tour-level trophy and reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, where she beat No. 9-ranked Daria Kasatkina for her first Top 10 win since 2021 Stuttgart.

“Since Strasbourg I have been striking the ball really well and feeling really well. I cannot compare it to what it was before the pregnancy. Now is very different,” she told press. “It's like something new in my game. Also my mindset is very fresh now, I'm really motivated like never before.”

A win over Kenin would put the Ukrainian on the cusp of a Top 50 return. The two crossed paths five times during the 2019 season, accounting for all of their prior meetings. Svitolina won the most recent two duels to edge ahead, 3-2.

“She loves to strike the ball, dictate on the baseline. I'll have to react quick. I'll have to move my legs really, really well and expect a quick ball,” assessed Svitolina.

“I think like kind of similar what was the game style of Mertens, as well.”