Adelaide – Czech teenager Linda Noskova has produced one of the first big shocks of the 2023 season, beating eighth-placed Russia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-7(2) 6-3 in the opening round of the Adelaide International on Monday.
The 102nd-ranked 18-year-old came through a difficult qualifying draw in which she defeated world No. 58 Anna Kalinskaya and No. 43 Anastasia Potapova before claiming the biggest win of her career against third-seeded Kastkina.
Playing only in her fifth main draw on the WTA Tour, Noskova had never played, let alone batted, a top 10 player before. She had been 0-2 against top 20 opponents.
Her best win before Monday was Alize Cornet in 38th place in the second round en route to the semifinals in Prague.
Noskova comfortably won the first set in 46 minutes, breaking 4-3 in the second set before Kasatkina broke back. She served for the match 6-5 in, but Kasatkina fought back again to win the set in a tiebreak.
But the Czech bounced back to win the deciding set and the match in just over 2 1/2 hours, finishing with a sweeping cross-court forehand on match point. She broke Kasatkina’s serve a total of eight times, hitting 57 winners from the floor and winning 21 of the 24 points when she came to the net.
Kasatkina had a tumultuous 2022 season that saw her break into the top 10 again. She also came out as gay and openly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Noskova reached a ranking-high of 87 in 2022 and qualified for the main draws at the French Open and the US Open.
“It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I think it’s been a really good season,” said Noskova. “I started at about 300 I think and then about 100 now so it’s pretty good progress.
“Of course I have to improve a bit to get back in the (top) 100, but hopefully I can do it this year.”
Noskova now meets the winner of the match between Australia’s Priscilla Hon and America’s qualifier Claire Liu.
Later, fourth-placed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia defeated Amanda Anisimova of the United States 6-3, 6-0.
In the men’s event, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka defeated fifth-placed Holger Dune of Denmark 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two hours.
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