- I have had no doubt that I can compete with the best, says the 35-year-old who went out in the first round in three of his last four tournaments.
The win over world number five Svitolina was Kuznetsova's first win over a top-5 ranked player since 2019 when she beat both Ash Barty and Karolina Pliskova on the way to the final in Cincinnati.
It looked to go as in previous tournaments when Svitolina won the first set 6-2.
- I was so stressed in the first set and did not get in any balls at all and the feeling was terrible. I tried to get two or three strokes and see if I could get into the match and if I could start again from the beginning, says the Russian who is 41st in the world rankings to the WTA tour.