NEW YORK, Aug. 31 -- Seventh seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine stepped into the U.S. Open women's singles fourth round here on Friday afternoon, beating China's Wang Qiang 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
The world No. 52 Wang Qiang, who entered the U.S. Open third round for the first time, has a reputation for upsets -- she stunned Venus Williams in the first round of this year's French Open and had shocked Sloane Stephens in Wuhan right after the American's 2017 U.S. Open victory.
The Louis Armstrong stadium where Svitolina played Wang had witnessed the exits of top seed Simona Halep and 12th seed Garbine Muguruza.
However, Svitolina's performance today was too solid. In the first set, Wang double faulted on break point to give the Ukranian a 3-1 lead. Wang began to move forward in the rallies and fire more winners. But that was not enough for turning table on the opponent.
Svitolina maintained the upperhand in the second set. Although Wang made 5 aces against Svitolina none, she got 27 unforced errors against Svitolina's 12.
"I think I am getting better and better," Svitolina said after the match. "Each match gave me a different look on my game. So far I think I'm playing solid. That's what I am looking for."
Svitolina will take on 19th seed Anastasija Sevastova from Latvia in the fourth round.