Ukrainian 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk seriously endangered Naomi Osaka in the third round of the US Open, but experience prevailed on Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Japanese dominated the final stage of the match to win 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2.
Kostyuk’s strong and aggressive game convinced the world that she’s a Grand Slam champion material, as the 137th ranked player fought off six break points at 1-2 in the second set, pressured Osaka to win the tiebreak, and then had a big chance to go up a break in the third set. However, the fourth-seeded Osaka saved five break points to level to 2-2 in the decider, digging herself out of a 0-40 hole in her service game, and dictated the rest of the match, winning 19 of the last 22 points in the match.
Commenting on Kostyuk, the 2018 US Open champion Osaka said:
I’m kind of scared of how good she’s going to be in the future.
Kostyuk was making her debut in the main draw of the US Open. She rose to stardom at the 2018 Australian Open when she reached the third round as a 15-year-old qualifying wildcard ranked world No.521.
