MELBOURNE, Australia -- Elina Svitolina was 4-1 down before she went on a roll and took 11 of the next 12 games in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Veronika Kudermetova on Monday to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals for the third time.
The 30-year-old Ukrainian is into the last eight at a Grand Slam for the 12th time and will next play No. 19 Madison Keys, who had a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and 2023 Australian Open runner-up.
Keys has twice reached the semifinals in Australia, in 2015 and 2022, and entered the season's first major with a title in Adelaide earlier this month.
Svitolina is back in the quarterfinals in Australia for the first time since 2019.
"Feels like a lifetime ago," Svitolina said. Since then, she has married French player Gael Monfils in 2021 and the pair had a daughter, Skai, in 2022. "Many things happened and I'm really pleased with the performance throughout the tournament. Really enjoying this win today."
After dropping two early service games to Kudermetova, she said her only goal "was just trying to fight."
"It's the only thing I can do when things are not going your way, put your head down and get back to work," she said. "Really happy I could come [back] into the match and then win in straight sets."
In a message written on a TV camera lens after the match, the No. 28-seeded Svitolina wrote "The Spirit of Ukraine" and drew a heart shape.
Svitolina, the No. 28 seed, wore a red dress, red shoes and a red cap for the match. People in the crowd waved the yellow and blue Ukraine flag.
Kudermetova took a medical timeout for on-court treatment on her abdomen after falling behind 5-4 the first set.
She left the court for treatment after losing the first set. Kudermetova saved a breakpoint and held for 1-1 in the second set, following up a forehand winner down the line with a loud roar.
That was the end of her celebrating.
It wasn't just power and pace from Svitolina that was the difference between the pair. After bringing Kudermetova to the net with a drop shot and then lobbing over her to start the next game, Svitolina punched the air.
There was no handshake at the net with Kudermetova, a 27-year-old from Russia, but no animosity, either.
Keys extended her win streak to nine matches this year. Rybakina seemed to be struggling with a lower back injury that had affected her in the third round, and Keys was able to play aggressively to neutralize Rybakina's big serve and take control of the rallies.
"Her serve is such a weapon, so I knew that if I could just try to make at least some of her service games a little bit competitive, then I had a chance," said Keys, who had lost to Rybakina in her last two encounters. "So I was basically just trying to make anything that I could get my racket on back over the net, which worked sometimes."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.