Not so long ago, she was also the 21st tennis player in the world, but she reached the success of her career from the 93rd position, after passing the qualifications in Melbourne and over three seeds...
Diana Jastremska is among the top eight at a Grand Slam for the first time, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open over Belarus and last year's polyfinalist Victoria Azaranka (7:6 (6), 6:4).
The tennis player born in Odesa and the girl who had to leave the city on the Black Sea when the Russian invasion began, eliminated two more seeded players before the Belarusian, and her triumph in the first round against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova resonated especially loudly.
Her opponent Azarenka served for the set at 6:5 in the first set, she had two set points, but Jastremska showed how mentally strong she is and solved that part of the game in the tie break (8:6). The Belarusian then took a 3:0 lead in the second set, but Jastremska won six of the next seven games and ended the story at "Rod Laver Arena" in a phenomenal way.
"I felt like I was running after a train the whole time, but I think I'm a bit of a fighter, so I won this match," Jastremska said after the match, as reported by the BBC.
Her rival in the quarterfinals will be the super talented Linda Noskova, who also made a career success in Melbourne, but this time her job was made easier by the injury of her rival Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina tearfully asked for a medical time-out after losing the first two games of the match, only to decide to surrender the match at 3:0.
"This was not the way I wanted to win. I feel sorry for Elina and I hope she will be well soon," said 19-year-old Noskova.
Her previous duel, in which she eliminated the world's number one tennis player Iga Sfjontek, perhaps best showed her talent.
Earlier, Marta Kostyuk, Koko Gof, Barbora Krejčikova and Arina Sabalenka qualified for the quarterfinals, while Ana Kalinskaja and Kinwen Zheng also made it to the eight.
Quarter-final pairings
- Noskova - Jastremska
- Kalinskaya - Женг
- Kostyuk - Gof
- Krejcikova - Sabalenka
Bonus video:
