15-year-old Marta Kostyuk has proved that experience is irrelevant as she revived the Ukraine’s Fed Cup chances in their clash with Australia.
As the highest ranked player in her team, the world No.185 once against illustrated her talent with a 7-6(3), 6-3, win over Daria Gavrilova. A player ranked more than 150 places higher than her in the WTA rankings. Hitting 22 winners and capitalising on the 36 unforced errors produced from her rival.
“I’m playing good tennis,’’ Kostyuk told fedcup.com. “A fairytale is more like it happened once and you don’t know when it will happen again, so it’s just another great tournament for me.’’
Making her Fed Cup debut this weekend, Kostyuk bust onto the scene earlier this year. At the Australian Open she reached the third round as a qualifier, 12 months after she won the junior title. She is the youngest player to reach the last 32 in a major tournament since Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the 1997 US Open.
Kostyuk’s surge in form has continued beyond Melbourne. Prior to the Fed Cup, she won her biggest title on the professional circuit yet. An $60,000 ITF event in Burnie. The rise of the teenager hasn’t gone noticed by Gavrilova. Who exit her match against Kostyuk with feelings of both disappointment and admiration.
“(Kostyuk) definitely plays beyond her age and she played pretty good tennis today and she has got nothing to lose. She pulled out some crazy shots in the end and she’s on a winning streak. She hasn’t lost a match in a while so I’m sure she’s really confident.’’ Said Gavrilova.
Besides her impressive play, Kostyuk has also won praise for her maturity away from the court. Something she credits her mother, Talina Beiko, for. Beiko is a former player who reached a high of 391st in 1994.
Breaking through at such a young age, it is inevitable that there will be comparisons to that of other tennis stars. In Kostyuk’s case, it is Martina Hingis whom she is compared with. Hingis is the youngest grand slam winner of all time at the age of 15 years and nine months following her triumph in the doubles at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships.
“It’s amazing that people are comparing me to such a big player but I’d love to just be myself,” Kostyuk explains.
After the first day of Fed Cup competition, the Ukraine is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia. In the other match Ash Barty overcame a scare to defeat world No.883 Lyudmyla Kichenok 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
