NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ajla Tomljanovic made it a night to remember for Australian tennis fans, following compatriot Nick Kyrgios into a maiden U.S. Open quarter-final on Sunday with a gritty victory over Russian Liudmila Samsonova.
Shortly after Kyrgios completed a brilliant victory over world number one and 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Tomljanovic backed up her win over retiring Serena Williams with a 7-6(8) 6-1 triumph at the neighbouring Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Samsonova, 23, came into the evening contest against Tomljanovic on a 13-match winning streak, having lifted titles in Cleveland and Washington D.C. in the leadup to the hardcourt Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows.
The Russian peppered the court with winners and quickly stacked up a 5-2 lead in the opening set.
Tomljanovic, 29, showed lot of resilience to save seven set points and hold serve during a 14-minute marathon ninth game and then successfully defended another setpoint during the tiebreaker to take the opening frame.
The missed opportunities seemed to take a toll on Samsonova’s confidence as her errors mounted and Tomljanovic raced through the second set with two break of serves to reach the quarter-finals at a major for the third time.
Tomljanovic, who reached the Wimbledon’s last-eight stage for the previous two editons, will next face the winner of the clash between Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur and 18th seeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
