In her first two Grand Slams back from maternity leave – she gave birth to daughter Skai last October – Svitolina has made back-to-back Grand Slam quarter-finals, in Paris last month and now at Wimbledon.
“I think after giving birth, this is the second-happiest moment in my life,” an emotional Svitolina said on court.
“It was an extremely tough match, when I was 0-2 down in the second set I heard you guys cheering for me and I almost wanted to cry.
“I was just trying to, I was thinking back home there’s lots of people watching and cheering for me. I know how much it means for them, any moment that they can share of happiness, it’s for sure, these kind of matches you go through, I was just thinking there is tough times in Ukraine and I’m here playing in front of you guys. I cannot complain, I just have to fight to win every single point and in the end, here I am, I won the match.”
It was Svitolina’s first victory in six meetings with Azarenka.