Kalinskaya stuns Svitolina in US Open third round

Russia's Anna Kalinskaya (world No. 23) defeated Ukraine's Elina Svitolina (No. 9) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in the early hours of Saturday, September 5, in New York, reaching the fourth round of the US Open. The match, played on Louis Armstrong Stadium as the last of the day's schedule, lasted 1 hour and 52 minutes, according to TenisBrasil.

A three-set battle

Both players struggled to hold serve in the opening set, but Kalinskaya edged ahead with four breaks to Svitolina's two, closing it out 6-3. Svitolina responded in the second set, winning four games in a row to level the match at 6-2. In the decisive third set, the Ukrainian led 3-2 on her own serve but was broken twice more and could not threaten her opponent's serve again as Kalinskaya sealed the win 6-3.

Statistically, Kalinskaya outhit Svitolina in winners (27 to 14) but also committed more unforced errors (40 to 21) and finished with 14 double faults overall, including seven in the first set alone, TenisBrasil reports.

Conflicting head-to-head figures

Sources disagree on the players' overall head-to-head record: TenisBrasil states Svitolina leads 4-2, while SpaceMoney puts it at 4-1 across five meetings. Both agree, however, that their most recent prior match was on grass in Berlin — according to SpaceMoney, on June 16, when Svitolina won 6-1, 4-1 after Kalinskaya retired just 44 minutes into the match. Kalinskaya had earlier won their February meeting on hard courts in Doha, 6-4, 6-3.

Context and next opponent

The win marks Kalinskaya's 15th career victory over a top-10 player and her first-ever fourth-round appearance at the US Open in eight tournament visits. She now holds a 26-17 record for the season, per SpaceMoney. Svitolina, meanwhile, has 43 wins this year, two titles (Auckland and Rome), an Australian Open semifinal and a Roland Garros quarterfinal, but exited Wimbledon in the first round, according to TenisBrasil.

In the fourth round, Kalinskaya will face American Emma Navarro (No. 27), who beat Czech Karolína Muchová 6-3, 7-5 — one of the day's biggest upsets, as reported by Tennisuptodate.com.