Fans left agog as Marta Kostyuk audaciously seals place in Miami Open fourth round
Published 23/03/2025 at 20:53 GMT
Marta Kostyuk booked her place in the last 16 of the Miami Open in some style against Anna Blinkova. A convincing win was rounded off thanks to an extraordinary ace, which will surely be one of the most memorable points of Kostyuk's career to date. It was a cheeky way to round off a very straightforward win for the Ukrainian, with this particular serve often dividing opinion in the sport.
Kostyuk
Image credit: Getty Images
Marta Kostyuk booked her place in the last 16 of the Miami Open with a 6-2 6-1 win over Anna Blinkova, with a match point that raised a few eyebrows.
The Ukrainian will play either Anna Kalinskaya or world No. 4 Jessica Pegula in the next round, after wrapping up this match in under an hour.
Kostyuk appeared to be full of confidence on the court, which was particularly evident by the way in which she got the job done in South Florida.
On her first match point, the 22-year-old unleashed an audacious ace with an underarm serve to prevail in some style.
The world No. 29 cruised to her victory, breaking Blinkova's serve three times in the first set, and twice more in the second.
At one point, it looked like Kostyuk was on course for a bagel at 5-0 up before the Russian claimed a hold of serve to reduce the deficit to 5-1 - but it only delayed the run to the winning line.
Kostyuk has now reached the last 16 in both competitions at the Sunshine Double, and will look to surpass her performance at Indian Wells, where she was beaten by Qinwen Zheng.
Following Kostyuk’s underarm serve here, it prompted conversation about previous match points won with underarm serves.
One of the more recent examples came in last year's Billie Jean King Cup, in a doubles tie between Italian duo Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani, and the Polish team of Iga Swiatek and Katarzyna Kawa.
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Errani and Paolini came out on top with a 7-5 7-5 victory, which was secured when the former started the point with an underarm serve. However, unlike in Kostyuk’s case, it did not result in an ace.
Kalin Ivanovski managed to win a match via an underarm ace when he beat Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez in a boys’ second round match at Wimbledon in 2022.
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