Kostyuk, Saville and Boulter advance to the quarterfinals of the Cymbiotika San Diego Open
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, Daria Saville of Australia and Katie Boulter of England advanced to the quarterfinals of the Cymbiotika San Diego Open on Wednesday.
Kostyuk continues to build on the form that saw her reach her first major quarterfinal last month at the Australian Open. The sixth seed knocked off the last remaining wild card by beating 18-year-old Taylah Preston of Australia, 6-4, 6-3.
For Kostyuk, 21, it was almost like facing a mirror image of herself.
“I was playing her for the very first time. She’s still very young. She reminds me a little bit of me,” said Kostyuk, who finished with 25 winners to 17 unforced errors, including nine double-faults. “I knew I had to fight and grind. It was very close.”
Preston, who notched her first tour-level main-draw singles win in the opening round against Magdalena Frech, impressed with her natural power and clean groundstrokes. She has jumped from No. 819 to No. 153 in a matter of one year, and will reach yet another career high when the updated WTA rankings are released on Monday.
Saville, a qualifier, saved a match point to overcome Germany’s Tatjana Maria in a dramatic 3-hour, 14-minute marathon, 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, 30-40 in the second set, Saville hammered a crosscourt forehand winner to keep her hopes alive. She eventually forced a third set in a tiebreak.
It was anything but a comfortable matchup for the 29-year-old baseliner.
“There was no comfort ever, at all,” said Saville, who avenged a quarterfinal loss to Maria in Barranquilla in 2023. “I think I kind of experienced today, tonight, probably what I do to players. It was a fun match — only because I won in the end. But it was a tough battle.”
The 47th-ranked Maria’s unconventional slice-and-dice game repeatedly left Saville scrambling for answers, but the 36-year-old managed to convert only six of her 23 break-point opportunities in taking the loss.
“I needed two hours to adjust, three hours,” said Saville of facing her crafty veteran foe. “I think I’m going to have to readjust tomorrow, hitting with someone who hits with spin. I hit a lot of balls today. It’s going to be really important for me to do the right recovery and get ready for the next round.”
It marked the fourth win of the week for Saville including the qualifying rounds.
Boulter and the No. 2 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil also went the distance, with the 49th-ranked Boulter pulling off a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset in two hours and 21 minutes. It marked only her fourth career win over a top 20 opponent.
The lefthanded Haddad Maia was attempting to reach the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
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