Melbourne: Drama continued to unfold in the women’s category of the Australian Open with Estonian unseeded Anett Kontaveit showing seventh seed and French Open Champion Jelena Ostapenko the door. Elsewhere fourth seed Elina Svitolina did not show an ounce of sentiment as she gave 15-year-old Ukrainian compatriot Marta Kostyuk a 59-minute lesson in Grand Slam tennis to reach the fourth round.
Kontaveit dumped Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 while qualifier Kostyuk who became the youngest player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam in over 20 years, Wednesday had her dream run brought to a shuddering halt in a 2-6, 2-6, loss to Svitolina at the Rod Laver Arena here.
Teenager Kostyuk made an excellent start by breaking Svitolina in the first game of the match but from then on it was pretty much all one-way traffic as the in-form fourth seed set up a meeting with Czech qualifier Denisa Allertova.
“How much do you have to pay Svitolina to have one-hour lesson? I got it for free,” said Kostyuk cheekily after the match. However, she also admitted she had been reduced to tears after conceding defeat with her ninth double fault.
“I had chances but because I thought ‘she is a god’, I couldn’t do anything against her. “I know I could play much better. Honestly I played really, really bad today. I didn’t show even maybe even 10 per cent of what I can do.”
Svitolina made a sluggish start in the searing heat but her serve was rock solid after the first game reverse and she broke three times to clinch the set when Kostyuk, on one knee, flopped a forehand into the net. In the second set Svitolina broke Kostyuk twice to close out the match.
Meanwhile, Croatia’s Petra Martic celebrated her 26th birthday in style by reaching the fourth round with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 triumph over Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum. The World No. 81 will now meet unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens for place in the pre-quarters.
Ostapenko, however, did not have bear the brunt of the heat as her’s was a late evening match. However, she was inconsistency personified. She played a brilliant second set, but in the first she committed 17 unforced errors and in the third 20 to lose both and with it the match.
At a glance
Anett Kontaveit bt Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
Elina Svitolina bt Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2
Petra Martic bt Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Elise Mertens bt Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-4
C Suarez Navarro bt Kaia Kanepi 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Agencies
