Wozniacki back from dead as new teen star emerges

As Caroline Wozniacki toyed with death, teenager Marta Kostyuk was cruising into the third round.

Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk celebrates her victory against Australia's Olivia Rogowska.

At 15, Marta Kostyuk does not yet know the kind of mental torture that No 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki was enduring in a nearby court when she was 5-1 down in the third and facing a humiliating second-round exit from the Australian Open yesterday.

Wozniacki survived, she still doesn’t know how, but it was an ordeal, unlike Kostyuk’s experience as she tripped lightly into the third round in her first ever grand slam tournament with a straight-sets win over local hope Olivia Rogowska, 6-3 7-5.

Rogowska’s mistake was walking on to Margaret Court Arena thinking she was playing a 15-year-old qualifier and this was her chance to progress to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time.

Kostyuk, of the Ukraine, had nothing to lose, came out swinging and ambushed the 26-year-old Australian.

“I didn’t feel like she was 15 at all,’’ an emotional Rogowska said afterwards, fearing she had just missed the opportunity of a lifetime. “Credit to her, she was just firing balls right at me. As soon as I served, a ball was at my feet.’’

When the teenager sealed the match, she dropped her racquet like it was on fire and put her hands to her head in disbelief.

The junior champion in Melbourne last year, Kostyuk became the first 15-year-old since Martina Hingis in 1996 to reach the third round of the Australian Open. Hingis went on to reach the quarter-finals then and who’s to say the Ukrainian wunderkind can’t do the same.

Like most prodigies, she is both adult and child at the same time. Her groundstrokes have a power and authority that belies her age, but she looked repeatedly to her mother for reassurance between points.

That got her into trouble in the second set when she was given a code violation for coaching after the umpire, Alexandre Robein of France, spotted her mother, former professional player and coach Talina Beiko, demonstrating a shot to her.

Kostyuk argued the point with the umpire and then took it out on her mother, as kids do.

“I wasn’t upset, I was so mad because I didn’t see what mum was showing me,’’ she said.

But the incident did not distract her, despite her claims that her emotions had often got the better of her in previous matches.

If she is fined for the infraction, she will barely miss a few thousand dollars given she is guaranteed to win at least $142,500 for making the third round this week.

It is easily the biggest payday of her young life and she already has plans for some of the money.

“I will get the presents for my family, first of all, of course, because I have big family,’’ she said. “And then for myself a bit.’’

Based in Zagreb, where she is coached by Luka Kutanjac and managed by former top 10 player Ivan Ljubicic, now the coach of Roger Federer, Kostyuk started playing tennis at four because she wanted to spend more time with her mother.

She seems to enjoy winning more than playing tennis and she is willing to put in the hard work to ensure she continues to have success.

“I heard a lot of times that I’m talented, and I know that, but I know that only talent will not help me to play good,” she said.

“So I can say that I’m working pretty hard. My pre-season was quite long and very tough mentally, because I didn’t play tournaments for two months, I was only practising. So it was tough, but it was worth it.’’

In her next round Kostyuk will play the fourth seed, her countrywoman Elina Svitolina, and it shapes as a dangerous meeting for the world No 4, given the youngster’s fearless approach.

“I’m going to play on big court again, but I will just try to show my best tennis, because I’m pretty sure, like, all my opponents, she will struggle a little bit, and I will try to use this,’’ Kostyuk said.

Unfancied Croatian Jana Fett, another making her grand slam debut, had the opportunity to advance against Wozniacki, leading 5-1 and 40-15 in the third set but could not convert her two match points and the experienced Dane came back from the dead to take the match.

“That was crazy, I don’t know how I got back into the match,’’ the relieved Wozniacki said.

“I think she realised she was 5-1 up and she let off the speed just a little bit and I thought this was my last chance and I had to attack.

“All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better and started really playing the tennis that I wanted to play.’’

Belinda Bencic, who turfed out fifth seed and 2017 finalist Venus Williams in the first round, was upset yesterday by Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum.