Yastremska is making a name for herself
Teen eliminates the final American from draw
NEW HAVEN — Most of the top 100 women’s tennis players have glamour shots to go with their biographies on the WTA Tour’s website. Dayana Yastremska’s has a generic line drawing of a faceless woman.
A few more wins like Monday at the Connecticut Tennis Center, and she’ll have that photo soon enough. The Ukrainian teenager knocked off the last American in the Connecticut Open singles draw, beating Danielle Collins 6-0, 6-3 in an opening round match on Stadium Court.
On court, she said her goal was to get to the top 50. She clarified that later, saying she meant getting there by the end of the year.
“Maybe top 30,” she said with a grin, then waved it off. “It’s too much. But dream big. Just improve.”
Yastremska last month became the first woman born after Jan. 1, 2000, to crack the WTA’s top 100. Though she dipped back to 104th by Monday, that
top-100 came at the perfect time: It earned her direct entry to next week’s U.S. Open, her major debut.
She turned 18 on May
15, and this weekend, she earned her way into the Connecticut Open in qualifying.
“I’m not really putting such an accent on my age,” Yastremska said. “I think it’s the right time to show my abilities.”
Collins, 24, a two-time NCAA champion at Florida who’d risen to 36th in the rankings, didn’t win the first point of a game until the 11th. She broke Yastremska’s serve to start the second set, but Yastremska broke right back.
The emotions were high for Yastremska, playing on center stage, a chance at a big win for her, late in the second, up 4-3. Collins fought off one break point, and then Yastremska twice denied Collins a chance to hold.
She got the break with a nice backhander, then held serve to win the match.
Yastremska said she hoped to get another chance to play on Stadium Court, and it’ll come quickly: She’ll face fifthseeded Julia Goerges in the second round on Tuesday night after second seed Caroline Garcia meets qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Not surprisingly, it’ll be Yastremska’s first match against Goerges.
“She’s very clever. She’s fast. She plays attacking tennis,” Yastremska said, adding that Goerges’ defense and counterattack are strong as well.
Yastremska’s win followed the first loss for a seeded player. Fourth seed Karolina Pliskova won the first five points
against Ekaterina Makarova, then had little else go right in Makarova’s
6-1, 6-3 win.
Their last meeting was in March in Miami, where Pliskova beat Makarova for the first time in four tries.
“Karolina is always a very tough opponent, a tough server,” 49thranked Makarova said on the court after Monday’s victory.
“Coming from Cincinnati (where she blew a 5-1 first-set lead and lost to Lesia Tsurenko), today was a little bit different. I was very happy getting through.”
It wasn’t the first loss of a seeded player for the tournament, though: top seed Simona Halep withdrew Monday, citing a right Achilles injury.
Lucky loser Belinda Bencic will take Halep’s place to face Camila Giorgi in the second round Tuesday afternoon. Giorgi beat fellow qualifier Ana Bogdan in straight sets Monday.
Sixth seed Ashleigh Barty withdrew Saturday with a viral illness.
Qualifiers did well, as they did last year. Zarina Diyas beat Maria Sakkari in straight sets, joining Monica Puig (straightsets win over Timea Bacsinszky), Yastremska, Sasnovich and Giorgi in the second round.
Sasnovich might have won the the match of the day out on the grandstand court, where she topped Kristina Mladenovic in three sets. The first two sets went to tiebreaks before Sasnovich took the third 6-2, 185 minutes after the match began.
Johanna Konta topped Laura Siegemund 6-2, 7-5, and will meet Carla Suarez Navarro on Tuesday. Aryna Sabalenka defeated Sam Stosur 6-3, 6-2.