Photo taken from wtatennis.com
Marta Kostyuk is a Picasso, with her own phases: this is the pink one, as in the first round of the Australian Open she wore a full pink outfit, shoes included. It suited her, I must say, she looked nice. Most probably, though, Marta’s pink phase ended today, as she has beaten 28 ranked Shuai Peng.
By now Marta’s achievements have had a worldwide echo, as she is the first 15-year-old girl to qualify for the second round of the Australian Open since Martina Hingis’ times: I’m proud of the fact that I’ve been writing for more than one year about this girl, who may indeed leave a sign in the history of tennis. Having said the above, since I guess that every magazine praised the exploit of the young Ukrainian, I want to write a few lines which I hope differ from the general (well deserved) triumphal articles of these days.
The last piece I wrote on Marta (a.k.a. Flagellum Dei) was to celebrate her win in the 25k in Dunakeszi, in which occasion she was also awarded her nickname. Since then, she undertook a couple more attempts on the Pro tour, both times losing at the early stages, a 60k and of a WTA International respectively. In the meantime she also played on the Junior Tour, reaching the final in the European Junior Championships (which she lost against the Beloved-One-Juvan) and winning a Grade 1 and the Junior Masters (having in the latter event beaten the Beloved One twice, once in the finals and once in the round robins).
Having won last January the Junior Australian Open, Marta was admitted to the qualification draw of this year pro event; she managed to qualify for the main draw having beaten in the order, each time in three sets, 120th ranked Rodionova, then Seguel (209) and finally Krejcicova (126): noticeably, in this last match Kostyuk won the third set by 6-0 having lost the second by 7-5. Indeed Marta is special: at 15 she is already able to beat players ranking around 100 spot.
Though, the most noticeable exploit is her win in the first round against Peng, who she has defeated surprisingly easily: the final score was 6-2 6-2 in favour of the young Ukrainian. I saw the match, and I must say that the win was a bit too easy: Marta actually played against a lame version of Peng, who didn’t move well at all due to a knee injury. Peng played so badly that I think it is unfair to keep record of the match: she double-faulted countless times (three times in a single game, when down 2-4, in the most important game of the match which lasted 10 minutes: since then the match virtually ended); plus even when hitting a valid first serve, Peng was ineffective and Kostyuk was able to return it as if it was a piece of cake. Also, Peng missed whatever from the baseline (sometimes she was a bit unlucky too): a few times, when conducting the struggle, as Kostyuk shortened her shots Peng was not able to reach the ball, as she was too slow. I have the impression that Peng just gave it a try, but it didn’t work out: Peng was obviously unfit to play.
This means that, in my view, it is not 100% true that Kostyuk beat the 28th player in the world by 6-2 6-2: yesterday’s Peng was not Peng.
Having said that, Marta must anyway be praised a lot. First of all, because she qualified; second because ok, her opponent was not a serious threat but Marta, ageing 15, didn’t allow her even one chance. I will speak a bit of Marta’s tennis in a few secs, but before I want to highlight that this girl mentally is a rock: she showed no kind of emotions throughout the match, not even when she was serving for the win and she handled everything as if she was 27 years old, playing her 20th slam. True, she has nothing to lose, she already won her tournament; but, you know, I guess it’s easier to say that than to actually be as calm as she was.
As per Marta’s game: she confirmed to be a great server; I didn’t notice any serves to reach great speed, but she found fantastic angles. I also love Marta’s second serve, which is aggressive and difficult to handle, even if this costs a few double faults; though it’s a price it’s worth to pay. The last time I saw Marta playing was a couple of months ago in the Junior Masters against Juvan. On that occasion I found her backhand to be hit a bit flat, so that several times she sent the shot into the net or hit it two metres long. I saw this problem occurring much less against Peng, I don’t know if due to improvements or just due to a better day. The forehand is cracking as usual and, even if in yesterday’s match she went for the net in few occasions, she did so with the right timings, showing once more that also the net play is part of her repertoire. A couple of times Kostyuk displayed great defensive skills, which I noticed before, and a great ability to find winners from the centre of the court (even if countering deep balls) and even when lacking balance. An inside-out winning forehand hit from the centre while moving backwards was just amazing.
Last, Marta dropped the Shakespearian monologues, substituting them with little screams when she mishits: those are cute and make me laugh. Let’s see if this will happen also in tougher matches; I hope so since I prefer the little screams to the monologues (well, they might be fun too, but I can’t understand them…)
I have nothing more to say on the match since Peng was, in my view, at 50% of her condition and clearly that was not enough.
Next turn Marta has a chance to replicate, as she will play against wild-card Rogowska, ranked 162: she has a chance to win, which means that this time she will have something to lose. Plus, it will be a different kind of test for her since, I guess for the first time in her career, everybody’s attention will be focused on her: due to all the above, she may feel pressure. More in general, after this amazing performance, Marta will not be an unknown junior anymore: from now on she will have to meet expectations (not limited to her entourage or specialists) and she will have once more to prove her great talent, to avoid to become one of those players which you hear about when they are 16 and you’ve forgotten about when they are 26, as they have disappeared.
In my view Marta owns the tennis and mental skills to become a dominant player, a top 1 or a top 10 or so: but indeed after this extraordinary performance in AO (however it will go tomorrow) it will be soon time for Pink Kostyuk to turn in a real professional and this is not an easy switch: she will have to pay attention as a delicate phase of her career is about to begin.
