Kostyuk Upsets Vondrousova and Ends Six-Match Losing Streak in Montreal

World No. 28 Marta Kostyuk has been struggling lately. The Ukrainian, who hasn’t won a single match since May 11—a third-round victory at the WTA 1000 in Rome against Leylah Fernandez—has been sorely lacking confidence.

On a six-match losing streak, she had fallen to two qualifiers, Bejlek and Erjavec, at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Also losing in the first round last week in Washington to Emma Raducanu, Kostyuk entered the second round of the Montreal tournament facing Marketa Vondrousova.

A far-from-easy draw for the 22-year-old against the Czech player, who is using her protected ranking in this tournament. The left-hander, who won the Berlin tournament before Wimbledon, is formidable when she’s in form.

Kostyuk confirmed her current struggles early in the match. After a disastrous start that saw her trailing 5-0, she mustered a slight burst of pride to avoid a bagel, but Vondrousova still managed to assert her dominance in the first set.

Still struggling on her serve, Kostyuk hung in there and eventually balanced the match. Becoming more threatening on returns, she eventually got the measure of Vondrousova’s serve, which was less mobile than at the start of the match.

In the end, Kostyuk—who won all her return games in the third set—found the resources to turn the match around (2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 1h40). She thus ends her six-match losing streak and advances to the third round, where she will face Daria Kasatkina, who earlier defeated Anna Blinkova (6-1, 6-4).

Ranked 164th before Berlin, Vondrousova—hampered by a shoulder injury early in the season—is now very close to re-entering the top 60 despite this loss.

In the first round, she had defeated Alexandra Eala in three sets (3-6, 6-1, 6-2), but she falls to Kostyuk for the second time in a row after their semifinal clash at last year’s WTA 500 in Stuttgart on clay (7-6, 6-2).