Ukrainian tennis player reaches Australian Open's 1/8 finals for the first time

Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk (WTA No. 37) won her third-round match at the Australian Open 2024 against Russian Elina Avanesyan (WTA No. 74). The 21-year-old Kyiv native was inferior during the match but managed to turn the table and finish off her "neutral" opponent with scores of 2:6, 6:4, 6:4.

Before the match with Avanesyan in Australia, Kostiuk had lost her last six matches against Russian tennis players, including one this year to Daria Kasatkina at the Brisbane tournament. And she didn't start her match with Elina in the best way, losing the first set with a score of 2-6.

In the second game of the second set, the representative of the aggressor country earned a break point on Marta's serve, but the 21-year-old Ukrainian put herself together and gradually turned the table, taking the second and third sets with the same score of 6-4, 6-4.

However, in the second set at 5:2, Kostiuk lost two games without serving for the game. And in the protracted tenth game, she was able to take the second set only from the sixth setball. And in the deciding game, Avanesyan managed to level the score at 4:4, but Marta did not allow her to do more.

Kostiuk's next validation match lasted two hours and 31 minutes. The victory over Avanesyan brought the Ukrainian $375,000 in prize money, 250 ranking points, and a ticket to the fourth round of the Australian major, which Marta reached for the first time.

This will be the second time in her career that the Ukrainian will play in the last 16 at a Grand Slam. In 2021, Kostiuk reached the fourth round of Roland Garros, losing to Pole Iza Świątek.

And Marta's next opponent in Melbourne will be determined in a match between non-flagged Russian Maria Timofeeva and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who is seeded No. 10 in Australia.

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