Dayana Yastremska (93rd from WTA) He reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first timeafter surpassing Victoria Azarenka (22nd) by 7-6 (6) and 6-4 in the Australian Openwhere she will face the Czech Linda Noskova (50th) in the next round.
If there is a word that fits perfectly to define the first partial es parity. Beyond the breaks that each one was able to achieve and the small moments of superiority that alternated, the truth is that the development was very even.
The hour and 15 minutes The duration of that initial round reflects the balance of the procedure, as does the tiebreak, which presented the same condiments with mini breaks on both sides without a large dominator.
The second set could be divided into two sections, because in the first half Azarenka was much more solid, while in the second Yastremska prevailed and, after losing the first 3 games, won the next 5 consecutively to reverse the score unfavorable.
Despite her little experience in matches of this size, the Ukrainian’s main virtue lay in her powerbeing aggressive from the return to bother Azarenka with her reverse as the highest standard and close the meeting without major inconveniences.
It is worth remembering that the one born in Odessa, 23 years ago, started from the qualy, when she beat the Croatian 6-3, 4-6 and 6-3 Lea Boskovic (221st), 6-4, 3-6 and 6-4 Greek style Valentini Grammatikopoulou (219th) and, 6-2, 1-6 and 6-4 to the local guest Maya Joint (565ª).
Already in the main draw, her path began with the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (7th), current Wimbledon champion, opponent who defeated 6-1 and 6-2 with a high level, meeting against the Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva (39th) (6-3 and 6-2) and then versus the American Emma Navarro (26ª) (6-2, 2-6 y 6-1).
There is no doubt that, due to the trajectory of her rival and the ranking, this is one of the most important victories of the right-handed, three-time champion at the WTA level, after the surprises against Barbora Krejcikova (3rd) in the WTA 1000 in Dubai 2022, Sofia Kenin (5th) in the WTA 1000 of Doha 2020, Aryna Sabalenka (11th) in WTA 500 in Strasbourg 2019, Johanna Konta (14th) at WTA 1000 in Toronto 2019, Jessica Pegula (14th) in the Qualifiers of the Billie Jean King Cup 2022, Garbiñe Muguruza (15th) at WTA 250 Hua-Hin 2019, y Jelena Ostapenko (16th) in Birmingham 2022, among others.
In this way, the Ukrainian became the first player to arrive from the classification in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open from the Mexican Angelica Gavaldón in 1990, an edition in which she succumbed to the German Claudio Porwik.
On the other hand, the right-handed one, 175 centimeters tall, became the second from the qualy during the Open Era defeat two Grand Slam champions like Vondrousova and Azarenka, after the Australian Jelena Dokicwho achieved such a feat in Wimbledon 1999 by eliminating the Swiss Martina Hingis and the french Mary Pierce.
For now, Ukraine will enjoy two representatives among the best eight of the first Major of the season, because Yastremska will line up with her compatriot Marta Kostyuk (35th), who will seek the semifinals of the oceanic event against the American Coco Gauff (3rd).
The bad news was signed by the experienced Elina Svitolina (23rd), who could not join the privileged list when she retired due to injury against Noskova with just 3 games played.
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