Marta Kostyuk won one of the points of the year to send the Canadian Open commentators calling her match into a complete frenzy. The Ukrainian advanced to the round of 16 with a hard-fought win over Daria Kasatkina on Thursday as their gripping showdown went the distance.
Kostyuk was already delighting fans in the early stages of the deciding third set. A perfectly-timed underarm serve drew Kasatkina to the net, and though she got it back, Kostyuk was able to unleash a brilliant cross-court winner to clinch her service game. There would be more drama to come before the 24th seed walked off with a 3-6 6-3 7-6 triumph.
At a vital moment in the all-important tiebreak, with Kasatkina 1-0 up, Kostyuk was sent scrambling around the court during an intense rally, and she looked dead and buried after slipping to the ground when sending a high, looping shot back over the net.
The point seemed to be Kasatkina’s for the taking, but she completely mishit her shot and directed it straight back at Kostyuk, who was somehow able to get back to her feet and stay in the rally. Kostyuk was again sent sprinting to the opposite side of the court but upon reaching it, she dispatched an unbelievable winner from a narrow angle to level up the tiebreak and win what many on social media are calling the point of the year.
As Kostyuk spread her arms wide to the crowd as if to question how she won the point, the commentator screamed: “No way! Oh my word!”
Kostyuk went on to win the tiebreak 7-4 and send the 15th seed tumbling out of the tournament. After the match, she was asked to reflect on the point that brought the house down in Montreal.
“I was 1-0 down already and then, you know, I mishit the ball and thought, ‘now it’s going to be 2-0’,” the 23-year-old explained. “Then she mishit the ball so I was like, ‘OK, I still have a chance’. I tried to never give up and that point was kind of a reflection of that.”
On the contest itself, Kostyuk added: “It was a very difficult match. I’ve played Daria so many times and it’s always such a battle. Thank you guys [the fans] for your support, it was unbelievable today. Thank you!”
Kostyuk faces another tough opponent in the next round as she’s due to take on McCartney Kessler – the player who just defeated fourth seed Mirra Andreeva – on Saturday.