Wimbledon champion Nosková reaches last eight at US Open
Czech tennis star Linda Nosková continues to go from the strength to strength. On Sunday, the 21-year-old Wimbledon champion beat Marta Kostyuk in dramatic style to reach the quarter-finals of another Grand Slam, the US Open, for the first time.
Linda Nosková reached the last eight at the US Open on Sunday when she converted her sixth match point to finally overcome Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 7-5 5-7 6-4.
Nosková, who is 21, is known for her laidback demeanour. But even she found facing so many match points before finally getting over the line gruelling.
“It seems to me that recently there have been too many such matches, where I’m close but then it gets away from me, and then I’m close again but in the end we’re still battling it out. So it’s not the best for my state of mind, or that of my team. I’m glad of the win of course, though it would have been great to get there in two sets, I won't lie.”
It had been over an hour between the Czech’s first match point and the one that sealed her place in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows. What’s more, the six match points – all of which were when Nosková had service – were spread out over two sets.
“Marta is a big player, so I knew it wouldn’t be easy, whether I was serving or returning. She put up a fight. She kept pulling something out of the bag when it didn’t suit me at all.”
Nosková’s win on Sunday was her 11th in a row at Grand Slam tournaments and saw her reach the last eight at the US Open for the first time in her career.
“I’m just glad to keep surviving from one round to the next. I’m glad that it hasn’t happened to me in a while that I had a match point but then failed to win. So I’m looking forward to the next match.”
Her next outing will see the Czech, seeded sixth, face Aryna Sabalenka, the 28-year-old top seed from Belarus, for a place in the semi-finals.
Sabalenka is world number one and lifted the women’s singles trophy at the last two US Opens.
Nosková has played her twice in the past and lost on both occasions, in the final in Adelaide three years ago and what the Czech describes as a closer encounter in Indian Wells earlier this year.
The Vsetín native, who will be hoping to upset odds and win her 12th Grand Slam match in succession, says she expects fast tennis in Tuesday’s last eight clash.
Perhaps Nosková will be again cheered on by the famous US wrestler Charlotte Flint, who was in her box at Flushing Meadows earlier in the tournament.
The Czech has been a big wrestling fan for some years and joked in her on-court interview on Sunday that the two were now “besties”.
