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Ajla Tomljanovic has “won ugly” to defeat Ludmilla Samsonova to move into her first US Open quarter-finals.
Although she won in straight sets, the first set – settled 7-6 (10-8) – was an epic encounter. It took more than an hour to play, and Tomljanovic fought off eight set points on her way to winning.
The 10th game of the set was crucial to her victory. Itself taking nearly 20 minutes, Tomljanovic trailed 0-30 and then 30-40.
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It was far from her best tennis. Midway through the first set she was down a break and had made numerous errors.
“You never really get that much obvious frustration from Tomljanovic – she keeps it in,” commentator Laura Robson said.
“But just chatting to herself there, we saw none of that on Friday night (against Serena Williams).”
The 29-year-old fought to get the break back.
Later in the set, in that 10th game, Samsonova was 30-40 up and looked set to break Tomljanovic again before the Aussie played a beautiful drop shot that landed just over the net. Samsonova had no chance at making the return, and the game went to deuce for the first of 12 times.
Tomljanovic then fought off seven set points, while Samsonova picked up a code violation warning from the serve clock when she appeared to deliberately walk to the far towel box between points.
Both players looked exhausted at the end of it.
Having led for a majority of the first set, Samsonova was never again in the hunt. She lost the second set 6-1.
“That was an amazing display of digging deep and finding a way (to) winning ugly … she knows she can play better tennis then that – and she did on Friday night (against Serena Williams),” Robson said of the win.
Crazy Tomljanovic drop shot saves set point
In her post-match interview, Tomljanovic said during that epic game, she fought to stay calm despite “dying” on the inside.
“I came out feeling pretty flat and I was thinking to myself that the last 48 hours have been a lot,” she said.
She said that epic game in the first set was where she was able to reset her focus.
“Something in me was saying ‘this is not where I stop’ and I want to give it my all, even if I go down – but just with a little more fight.
“The fact that I won, I’m still a little speechless.”
“I think it’s just about staying in the moment,” she said.
“She played well, and I don’t really have to dwell because the game is going by quickly and I’m just trying to stay as calm as possible, even though inside I’m dying.”
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