Thirty-one year-old Polish player Magda Linette has reached the first quarter final at Grand Slam level of her career in her 30th appearance in a Major tournament after taking an upset win over last season’s WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia at the Australian Open.
“Garcia started very fast. I think I did not serve very well at the beginning. Then when I picked it up a little bit more, I think my game started coming together a little bit. I that the serve was a crucial part today for me”.
The world number 45 player beat Mayar Sherifthree seeds at this year’s edition of the Australian Open. After defeating world number 16 Anett Kontaveit and world number 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova, Linette upset world number 4 Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in the fourth round.
“It’s great. I don’t know. I feel quite calm actually. It feels really good. I don’t know. If I can still believe or I am just really happy and still focused maybe on the next round.”, said Linette.
Linette had previously reached the third round at Roland Garros in 2017 and 2021, at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2021 and the US Open in 2020. Two years ago she showed her potential by beating Ashleigh Barty in the second round before losing to Ons Jabeur in three sets at the French Open. Later that year the Polish player beat Amanda Anisimova and Elina Svitolina before losing to Paula Badosa in three sets.
“I was not completely far away from the second week. In Wimbledon I was quite close one year to get through to the second week when I was kind of having a break up in the third set against Paula Badosa. When I was at Roland Garros, I was a set up against Ons Jabeur, I have been in the third rounds for so many times that I knew I am capable. Then when I start beating players like Ash Barty and Ons Jabeur, that gave me an ex extra kick that really showed me that I can really go far in Grand Slam tournaments. I think it was more frustrating than I would wonder or worry about it. I think it was just more frustration why I can’t do it”.
Linette reached the final in Chennai, the quarter final in Seoul and won the 125k in Tampico last autumn.
“The win in Tampico was the turning point. In the first set I was playing against one girl, and she was giving me a lot of trouble. I completely broke in tears in the first set. My coaches were really surprised by that. I felt like I threw all the anger out of me. That was the last time when I really lost it. Since then I really controlled it better”, said Linette.
Linette scored wins over Karolina Pliskova and Madison Keys at the Billie Jean King Cup last year.
“I think it started already last year because I had played a couple of important matches in lower ranked tournaments, but also in the Billie Jean King Cup when I was starting up with 0-1 every single time. I think that was important, then it carried over towards the United Cup. I was just more ready for the situation. I think it was just overall experience. Just the whole team vibe and having extra support was helpful just to be there and stay calm and have a little bit more support right there at the bench. I think that helped me to start the season a little bit better”.
Linette started the 2023 season with wins over Zhibek Kulambayeva, Jill Teichmann and Lucia Bronzetti at the United Cup en route to the semifinals before she lost to Madison Keys in straight sets.
“We did a little bit easier preseason than usual. I was usually really working very hard physically. This time we took it really a little bit different. We thought: ‘I am not young anymore. I am after one surgery, so we need to really be careful how we approach this. I think I am so much fresher. We worked a lot actually on my emotional management. I think dealing with some kind of losses, but not necessarily match losses, just even throughout the match losses, like small mistakes here and there”.
Linette set up a quarter final against Karolina Pliskova in a re-match of their Billie Jean King Cup, where Linette prevailed 6-4 6-1. Pliskova leads 7-1 in their eight head-to-head matches. Pliskova reached two Grand Slam finals at the US Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2021 and the semifinal at the Australian Open in 2019.
“It’s very difficult. I am 31 and I am just getting it right, so obviously it one of the toughest things for me, but I am happy that I have this opportunity, that actually I tapped into something that finally I am breaking something that you can’t really measure in any way. For me it was something really difficult to change”.
