Serena Williams vs. Evita Svitolina: Score, Reaction from 2015 Australian Open

For the second consecutive match, Serena Williams overcame early struggles to survive and advance at the Australian Open. The top seed on the women's side won 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 over 26th-ranked Elina Svitolina.  

This result was almost a carbon copy of what happened to Williams in the second round. She got behind early, in this case dropping the first set, before kicking things into gear. The 33-year-old won the first four games of the second set to buy some breathing room and never looked back. 

To put things in clearer perspective, Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times found the perfect analogy to describe Williams' win:

Williams talked about how her game really came together during the previous match against Vera Zvonareva in the second round when she popped off 10-straight game wins, via CNN.com:

"Things really clicked," Williams said. "I had no other option but for things to click. I just had to start playing better."

Whatever was working on that day abandoned her early against Svitolina. The first set was more about what Williams wasn't doing than anything particularly memorable about her opponent, via the Australian Open on Twitter:

However, Steve Tignor of Tennis.com, Williams did seem to turn things on at the end of that opening set:

That sentiment was echoed by Sports Illustrated Tennis when Williams took the second set 6-2:

Last year, Williams struggled in the Grand Slam events. She did win the U.S. Open, but didn't make it past the fourth round in the three other major tournaments. One thing that stood out was how she so often struggled against inferior opponents before eventually getting knocked off by one of them. 

That has seemed like the case again this year, as Williams struggled early against Zvonareva and Svitolina. That only works so long before the tidal waves swallow you up. It could also just be a product of age finally catching up to her. 

While 33 is young in society, it's borderline ancient in tennis. Just ask Roger Federer how he is feeling today. 

As far as Svitolina, the 20-year-old did show tremendous poise against her more decorated opponent, as David Law of BBC 5 noted on Twitter:

Even though the end result isn't what Svitolino was looking for, she can take some comfort in knowing that she was able to stick with the top player in the world. Williams didn't play a perfect match but was forced into a lot of mistakes because her opponent was making her move all over the court. 

One thing Svitolino will have to work on, as noted by Courtney Nguyen of Sports Illustrated, is in the middle of the court:

There are still going to be some growing pains for Svitolino moving forward. She's got a powerful serve and big forehand to cause a lot of problems. Don't be shocked to see her make noise later this year at Wimbledon. 

As for Williams, she did what she so often does by starting off giving her opponent an edge before turning things on. That may end up costing her soon in this tournament, as it did last year, but when she's motivated to play there's no one in the world who is capable of beating her. 

The fourth round is where Williams was tripped up last year, so she has to be extra attentive to her game in the coming days to avoid another upset with 21-year-old Garbine Muguruza waiting in the fourth round.