Teenage prodigy Marta Kostyuk has continued her fairytale run at the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-2, triumph over 25th seed Peng Shuai in under an hour.
Kostyuk, who is the current Australian Open girls champion, came through three rounds of qualifying last week to reach her first grand slam main draw at the age of 15. Scoring a trio of wins over Arina Rodionova, Daniela Seguel, and Barbora Krejcikova. Becoming the first player her age to qualify for a major since 2005.
Taking on Peng in her first round match, Kostyuk’s inexperience proved irrelevant. The Ukrainian player is participating in only her ninth senior tournament. Compared to her Chinese rival, who made her WTA debut back in 2001. The year before Kostyuk was born.
During the 57-minute win, Kostyuk impressively won 87% of her service points and produced 27 winners. Rubbing salt into the wounds of Shuai, who continues to struggle with a knee injury.
“I was trying to move her,” wtatennis.com quoted Kostyuk saying after her match. “I knew exactly to play against her and I did that, I’m happy about that.”
https://twitter.com/WTA/status/952744652515323904
Already the first player born in 2002 to play in the main draw of a grand slam tournament, Kostyuk has now broken another record. Becoming the youngest player to win a main draw Australian Open match since Martina Hingis back in 1996. She is the youngest player to win a grand slam match since Catherine Bellis’s stunned Dominika Cibulkova at the 2014 US Open.
“I’m doing some records every year, every tournament, I don’t feel special about this,” explained Kostyuk. “If I feel something different every time I play and break a record, it’d be too much.”
Kostyuk is currently ranked No.2 in the junior rankings, winning the junior Masters title last October. On the professional tour, she is currently ranked outside the top 500 and claimed her first ITF title last year at a £25,000 event in Hungary.
Next up for the rising star will be Olivia Rogowska, who received a wildcard into the tournament. Rogowska overcame fellow Australian Jaimee Fourlis in three sets.
As a result of her run in Melbourne, Kostyuk is expected to shoot up the rankings and is on the verge of breaking into the top 300.
Kostyuk’s professional career so far
ITF $10,000 Kharkiv R1
ITF $10,000 Sharm El Sheikh QF
ITF $15,000 Antalya SF
ITF $25,000 La Marsa R1
ITF $25,000 Dunakeszi CHAMPION
ITF $60,000 Hodmezovasarhely R1
WTA Mallorca R1 (qualifying)
ITF $25,000 Playford R1
Australian Open R2 (at least)
