The Ukrainian beat world number seven Zheng Qingwen in an incredible match
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk commented on the victory over Chinese representative Zheng Qingwen in the second round of the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart.
“How did I do all this? I don’t know. In the second set I was very close, I had chances, but I didn’t take advantage of them. I was a little upset, I no longer believed that I could win this match. With the score 5:4, she was close to victory. All her match points were some incredible plays. So I don’t know… Maybe I deserved this win a little.”
“What did I do to quickly collect myself after losing the second game? To be honest, even if I lost the fight, I would still be pretty happy with how I handled myself. It’s actually not easy when you’re playing against a top-10 tennis player or just a strong opponent, when you have these chances but you can’t take them. And you think, well, that’s it, I’ve lost my chances, now I need to do something extraordinary. Of course it adds pressure, but for me it’s a great win.”
“Overall it was a great match. I am very grateful when matches like this happen. Despite the result, it is matches like this that push you to develop, force you to play to the limit of your abilities. So it’s incredible that I won today.”
“How did I manage to survive psychologically when I was winning back those match points? Don’t know. There is definitely no need to count these match points. I tried to just play point by point. I didn’t have many opportunities to break in the third game. So I just struggled. After losing the first game, I kept losing, trying to catch up with her and win back. I’m very happy that I was able to do this.”
“As for the next match against Coco, I think I’m in better shape now than in our last meeting at the Australian Open. That is, then I played a lot more matches before we met. I think this will be another great match. For the first time we will play against each other on clay. Let’s see what happens. It will be a new day, a different me, a different Coco. I hope the audience will come to watch and cheer. It will be Friday, so I think there will be a lot of people. There’s a great atmosphere here, so I hope it’s a good show.”
Marta beat the fifth seed of the event in three sets – 6:2, 4:6, 7:5. At the start of the event, the Ukrainian also beat the German representative Laura Siegemund in three sets.
In the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 in Stuttgart, Kostyuk will play with the third seed, Coco Gauff from the USA.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
