Marta Kostyuk had an awkward reaction after hitting one of the strangest aces ever witnessed on a tennis court. The No. 24 seed at the Madrid Open, Kostyuk had defeated Emma Raducanu in the previous round to earn a clash with Veronika Kudermetova.
Kostyuk started strongly, breaking Kudermetova immediately, and extended her lead with a bizarre mishit serve that floated through the air like a lob before landing perfectly in the service box for an ace. Both players were left stunned, and the Ukrainian could only offer a sheepish apology as she moved ahead 3-0.
After battling through a rollercoaster three-set match against Raducanu on Friday, Kostyuk made a much more convincing start against Kudermetova. The 22-year-old secured a break in a long game to go up 2-0, then stepped up to serve to widen her advantage.
On game point, Kostyuk sent up an awkward serve that appeared destined to miss wide but dropped inside the lines, bouncing awkwardly and giving Kudermetova no chance to respond.
Both players froze in disbelief for a few moments, and Kostyuk quickly raised her hands in apology before heading to her bench for the changeover, leading 3-0.
The Ukrainian continued her dominant form, handing Kudermetova a bagel and sealing the first set 6-0 in just over 30 minutes.
Kostyuk had earlier raised injury concerns during her opening-round match against Raducanu. The 22-year-old had called for a medical timeout after taking the first set, speaking with the physio before receiving treatment on her wrist.
Although she lost the second set, Kostyuk rallied to win 6-4 2-6 6-2, later revealing she had felt something wrong during the warm-up.
“Emma was hitting the ball very hard on the warm-up so I think I just over-stretched it on the body and it just got progressively worse,” she told Sky Sports straight after the match.
“But I don’t think it’s anything bad, it was just a very weird pain. I usually never have problems with my wrist or anything. I’ll probably fix it for the next match but it was weird.”
Kostyuk is already experiencing her best run yet in Madrid, having never advanced this far before. As one of the seeded players, she received a bye into the second round, making this her first appearance in the third round.
The Ukrainian had to pull out of the recent Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she had reached the final a year earlier. Her ranking suffered as a result, with Kostyuk unable to defend her runner-up points.
However, she appears to have rediscovered her form at the Caja Magica, now standing just one win away from reaching the round of 16.
