WTA | Sara Sorribes yields to Kostyuk, a star in the making

Sara Sorribes leaves Abu Dhabi with her head held high after a promising start to the season, with a three-win win and defeat this Monday in the quarterfinals against a rising star if she does not twist, 18-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, a tennis player with a powerful physique both in the arms and back as well as in the legs, a devastating hit when she gets inside the court and an amazing skill in the net. With these qualities, he was able to overcome a game that had turned uphill with a Spanish donut (0-6, 6-1 and 6-4), that until the beginning of the second set it dealt with a single unforced error.

Kostyuk will face her compatriot Elina Svitolina or the Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals. Sara advances four places in the world ranking, to 62, although precisely his last rival could overtake him if he reaches the final. “I think I've played good games and I'm happy with my performance, but my intention is always to learn and keep improving,” she said after the match before praising her coach, Silvia Soler. “She is a great coach and understands tennis very well, the way she sees it helps me a lot, how she transmits it to me, the tranquility it gives me … I am very grateful for the work she does with me. Hopefully we can get nice things. “

Sorribes' first set may be one of the best he has played in his career, similar to the one he executed against Aryna Sabalenka not long ago in Ostrava, although in the end he ended up losing. In those moments of clever tennis, at times exalted, Sara only made an unforced error and in the fifth game. Kostyuk was caught up in her youthful momentum and her shooting game wasn't working for her. Complaining and talkative (she received a warning from the chair umpire) she conceded a 7-0 that seemed to condemn her.

Although it was not like that and as it happens from time to time in the women's circuit, he returned the partial to the Spanish to level the game. Advised from the stands by her mother, she armed herself with patience to enter into longer exchanges and attack at the right time. It worked out well, honed his cannon shots and surprised Sorribes, who couldn't maintain his extraordinary precision. The normal thing is that he had collapsed, however, he showed character and was not daunted in a phase of the meeting with many breaks. In fact, neither of them won their serve until Sara did in the seventh game. The duel was ordered and the tension increased exponentially. A war of nerves in which Kostyuk, an exponent of the rich Ukrainian girls' school, which was contesting its second quarters in a WTA tournament, showed the breed of a future champion. With another break he got 5-4 and serve.

Abu Dhabi WTA 500 results.