"She's a great fighter. She has a great future - we're going to hear a lot more about her"
Thursday 24 May 2018 14:26, UK
Teenager Marta Kostyuk's run at the Australian Open came to an end with a 6-2 6-2 loss against fourth seed and fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Kostyuk's success, coming through qualifying and reaching the third round, has been one of the stories of the tournament but she found Svitolina too strong and too experienced in her debut on Rod Laver Arena.
The 15-year-old was the first player born in 2002 to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam and became the youngest player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the 1997 US Open.
Kostyuk was given a wild card into qualifying after winning the junior title 12 months ago and was aiming to be the youngest since 1996 to progress to the last 16, but must now focus on working her way up the professional game from her current ranking of 521.
Asked how much she learned, Kostyuk said: "A lot. How much do you have to pay Svitolina to have a one-hour lesson? I got it for free.
"She's a great player, but what I learned is that you can play against everyone. I had the chances, but because I thought she is incredible, like she's a god, I cannot do anything against her, that's the problem."
The pair shared a warm hug at the net and Svitolina had some encouraging words for Kostyuk, who revealed she was in tears after the match.
"It was sad playing another Ukrainian girl," said Svitolina. "She's a great fighter. She has a great future - we're going to hear a lot more about her."
The world No 4 is the only seed left in her quarter of the draw and next faces Denisa Allertova.
The Czech qualifier became the first player into the fourth round at Melbourne Park after a 6-1 6-4 victory over Poland's Magda Linette on Margaret Court Arena.
France's Alize Cornet suffered dizzy spells and slumped to the court after serving during the second set of her 7-5 6-4 defeat to Elise Mertens.
"Playing at this time was probably the worst time of the day," former world No 11 Cornet said. "I kind of felt that I could faint at any moment."
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko suffered a surprise 6-3 1-6 6-3 defeat to Anett Kontaveit at Melbourne Park.
The loss continued Ostapenko's poor start to the season since hiring a new coach, Australian David Taylor.
World No 2 Caroline Wozniacki kept her bid for a first Grand Slam title on course as she defeated Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-3 to set up a meeting with 19th seed Magdalena Rybarikova for a place in the quarter-finals.
Croatian Petra Martic reached the last 16 for the first time in seven appearances, beating Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum 6-3 3-6 7-5 while Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro powered from a set down against Kaia Kanepi to advance with a 3-6 6-1 6-3 win.