Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, 22, saved two match points, came back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set, and eventually won a wonderful match against German Tamara Korpatsch, who fully contributed to their show on Central Court.
It ended 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 for Yastremska, after 2 hours and 15 minutes of superb tennis.
The match was very balanced and rough. The Ukrainian took initiative more often, attacking repeatedly, and with no hesitations. Considered one of the most aggressive players in the circuit, Dayana set the pace and took the first set rather clearly, but then lost timing and didn’t find enough solutions against Korpatsch’s strong defensive.
The German took the second set and also the control of the match until 5-2 in the third set. She even had two match points at 5-4, but Yastremska fought back and won 5 consecutive games and the match.
„I think that‘s my first win since the last eight tournaments, and of course, I’m very excited about it. I didn’t really know that she had two match points, to be honest. I lost myself in the match and I didn’t follow the score, maybe that’s why it helped me“, Dayana Yastremska said in the post-match interview with Horia Tecău.
Yastremska, World No. 94, went on to say she likes to play in Cluj.
„I really like the court here, but still it was very hard because in the morning I read the news and we received today more than 90 rockets (Russian missiles hit several Ukrainian cities). What is going on now is terrible, and after I saw all this news I got pretty negative about everything. I really like to play here in Romania, because when the war started we escaped, with my sister, to Romania, people were really nice, I received a lot of support from the Romanians, so it is a pleasure to play here.“
In round 2 Yastremska is going to play against the winner of the match Marta Kostyuk – Jasmine Paolini.
