Aussie wildcard Maddison Inglis said she was “over the moon” after a career-best win put her into the third round of the Australian Open for the first time.
She’s through to the last 32 after a 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 win over American Hailey Baptiste, and will now face either Kaia Kanepi or Marie Bouzkova for a chance to progress to the second week.
Even should she lose her next match, Inglis will pocket a whopping $221,000 for her two victories in the year’s first grand slam, an amount that wwould boost her career prize money by nearly 50 per cent.
LIVE UPDATES: Aussie great breaks down day four blockbuster
READ MORE: How close Kyrgios was to missing Open
READ MORE: Aussie wildcard rocks tennis world in epic upset
“This is so special – this is just, playing on this court in front of this crowd and now I’m in the third round. I just can’t believe it at the moment,” she said on Margaret Court Arena after her win.
“It was insane. This is my favourite court and the best court I’ve ever played on. The crowd was just insane today, so thank you guys so much.”
After dropping the second set, Inglis came back to win the third, referencing an incident where a ball hit the tape and dropped in for her.
“I got a little bit lucky in the fifth game, I think it was,” she said.
“I’m really grateful for that. Hayley played really well in the second set and she served well. I made a few errors at not a great time but I’m so glad that I could get my energy back up, thanks to you guys.
“I’m over the moon.”
Inglis had never won a grand slam match before this week – losing in the first round at the 2016 Australian Open and 2020 French and US Opens.
“It’s a dream to play in a grand slam, and win a match on a court like this,” she said.
The world No.127’s next match will be on Saturday.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Australian Open in pictures: Jessica Pegula’s nod to her family’s NFL team, the Buffalo Bills
