I think so (with a lot of ups and downs, obviously). Marta's game is perfect for grass, especially her slice looks better than I remember it. It's just a bit wild at times :angel:
There was nothing she could do against Anderson's gutsy 1-2 on the match point, but unfortunately, her body language changed significantly after that. At the worst possible moment, 6-6. Experience is the best teacher, I guess. Other than that, she played a great 2nd set until 5-3 or so.
Ugh at this draw. I think she's gonna have to battle hard to get through.
I watched Kalinskaya when I went to Birmingham last week and she didn't look super comfortable in her match (looked a tad fatigued too). It is winnable. But the rest of this section is horrific.
For the 16-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the playing venue is a mental challenge in itself. “It feels like we are outsiders,” she says. “I understand to some point the court has to be completely new. But it’s kind of upsetting. You feel you are too far from the people in the main draw. There are players that are proud [to be here], but I’m not like that. I’m like: ‘Why am I playing so bad that I’m in qualies?’”
Seems like she has mental/attitude or whatever you want to call it problems
Going down from Aus Open MD to Grand Slam Quali seems to be hard for Marta ...
Marta was a hyped promising future star after Aus Open 2018. And now she must play ITFs and Grand Slam Quali. While most of the other players in Grand Slam Quali are typical ITF players with no big career or potential ...
Unhappy at this draw but Kalinskaya qualified out of that section so at least she lost to someone playing well.
I think Marta has very high expectations of herself but while she's had a big taste of success now she has to put the hard work in to get the rewards. I fully believe it will come in time. She needs to perhaps learn some patience.
Kastles Play First Match at New Kastles Stadium Against Vegas Rollers at 7 p.m.
...
Women’s singles also promises to be an exciting highlight. New Kastle and 16-year-old Ukrainian phenom Marta Kostyuk will take on 22-year-old Rollers rookie Harriet Dart of England in a clash of rising WTA stars.
I watched the match (Tiafoe and Opelka are playing the last set as I type this) and Marta got embarrassed by Dart 5-1. Negative body language, talking to herself, wild errors. She got a stern talking-to in a GEICO timeout by Coach MacPherson.
Marta was in tears after the set and Coach MacPherson went over to console her. Shelby gave her some encouragement before they went for women's doubles. She played much better, was laughing and smiling (there was a scoreboard faux pas. They use a manual scoreboard), but they blew a 4-1 lead and lost the set to Dart and Muhammad 5-4 (which is a tiebreaker score in WTT).
It should be noted that Washington is playing all home matches on a roof. An actual roof.
Marta has a certain resemblance to Djokovic. When you look at Djokovic's photo when he was around 19-21 before gluten free. They could pass as siblings.
12 yo (born April 23, 2003) Dasha from Karkhiv has had an extremely dominant year, with a 37-3 record-winning 6 out of 9 tournaments she'd entered (G12 Braga Open, G12 Top 10/12 Bressuire, G12 Nashi Dity Cup, G14 Chenitskoy Memorial, G12 Kravchenko Cup and G12 Cup, + final of G14 Venden Cup...
Dasha from Kyïv, who's gonna turn 15 tomorrow, was the top U14 European girl at the beginning of last year, but she had a pretty underwhelming 2016 eventually and saw fellow Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, as well as girls like Hindova, Frayman & Charaeva completely sprint past her in terms of results...
Ranking as of August 4, 2008
National Ranking/Name/(wta ranking)
1.BONDARENKO, ALONA (30)
2.BONDARENKO, KATERYNA (42)
3.KORYTTSEVA, MARIYA (54)
4.PEREBIYNIS, TATIANA (76)
5.VAKULENKO, JULIA (84)
6.SAVCHUK, OLGA (126)
7.FEDAK, YULIANA (131)
8.KUTUZOVA, VIKTORIYA (141)
9.LYUBTSOVA, OXANA...