Ajla Tomljanovic made it a night to remember for Australian tennis fans, following compatriot Nick Kyrgios into a maiden US Open quarter-final on Monday (AEST) 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 DC in the lead-up 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 set point 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.
Reuters
