ANETT KONTAVEIT SAYS that reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final helps banish the heartbreak of pulling out of the US Open with an illness that torpedoed her 2019 season and required surgery.
The 24-year-old became the first Estonian woman to reach the last eight in Melbourne after battling past Polish teenager Iga Swiatek 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5 in 2 hours and 42 minutes.
The 28th seed faces a tough test next against fourth seed Simona Halep, one of the favourites for the title.
Kontaveit has had a turbulent few months, and was forced to pull out of her third-round clash with Belinda Bencic in New York after falling unwell with a viral illness.
She later required surgery and did not play a match for the rest of last year.
“It was really hard, so tough to retire at a Grand Slam. It was a really tough couple of months after that,” she said, after holding off a late charge from the 18-year-old Swiatek.
“But I’m so happy I’m through that now. I started training in mid-November, and it’s been only uphill (getting better) from there,” Kontaveit added with a smile.
The Estonian’s return to full form and fitness was in evidence when she thrashed the Swiss sixth seed Bencic 6-0, 6-1 in the third round in Melbourne.
Her British coach Nigel Sears says her forced exit at the US Open checked some stunning momentum at Flushing Meadows, where she was the 21st seed.
“(She) got an internal infection that got out of control very quickly,” he said at the Australian Open.
“I suddenly had a phone call early in the morning that she was on her way to hospital, she ended up being hospitalised for a week in New York and then had surgery for a procedure to remove an abscess.
“She couldn’t do anything for three or four months, lost quite a lot of weight. It was hugely disappointing.”
All that was forgotten on Monday when Kontaveit recovered from a set down to unseeded Swiatek, holding off the teenager’s recovery from 5-1 down in the decider for a victory that she said left her shaking.
Poland’s Swiatek, the youngest player left in the draw after Coco Gauff’s exit, grabbed the first set on a tie-break but Kontaveit finally prevailed.
Swiatek, who shocked Croat 19th seed Donna Vekic in the third round, needed a medical timeout and heavy strapping to her left thigh before the start of the second set.
Neither player could consistently hold serve and they exchanged breaks throughout the second set, but the more experienced Kontaveit finally held in game 11 and broke once more to level the match.
Kontaveit motored into a 5-1 lead in the deciding set before Swiatek threatened a late comeback, winning four games in a row for 5-5 before the Estonian held serve and then broke for the match.
However, it now gets tougher for Kontaveit and two-time Grand Slam champion Halep will be the strong favourite in their last-eight encounter.
“She’s incredibly consistent,” said the Estonian. “She’s playing so well, moving so well, and I have definitely got to be consistent but try and play my game and be aggressive.”
Elsewhere, two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza underlined her return to form as she beat ninth seed Kiki Bertens in 68 minutes to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The unseeded former world number one won 6-3, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena and faces German 17th seed Angelique Kerber or 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in the last eight.
Just three of the top 10 seeds remain — top seed Ashleigh Barty and seventh seed Petra Kvitova meet in the quarter-finals.
The other is Halep who plays Kontaveit.
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Ruddock Leavy Heaslip O Brien Van der Flier Murphy Fardy Conan Deegan Leinster back row strength is unreal If carlsberg did backrows they would probably not be as good as Leinsters
Rare to see two players joining straight from school in Aungier and O’Sullivan.
I just don’t know how Leinster are going to keep all these backrows happy but I hope they do.
The talent level being brought through is amazing.
@Gustave H: the great thing is the talent is flowing to the first team and beyond so they must know the way to keep them all happy.
@Gustave H: Let Ulster sign them to let them get game time.
@Christiaan Theron: I don’t think it’s a case of letting them. They want to stay and fight for their place.
From what I heard Ulster went in heavily for Jack Conan and he’d no interest.
@Gustave H: True. There’s one or two that would want to do a serious bit of thinking though. It’s admirable wanting to earn the starting spot here, but playing week in week out and in Champions Cup games in Ravenhill would stand to them more than a few Pro12 games during the Six Nations. It’s a short career, and waiting in line didn’t work out for Ryan or Madigan.
Some of these kids should go on loan to Ulster and London Irish
@Aidan O: They don’t want to.
@Lf: Shows how ambitious they are. Every player knows they have to play regular on the 23 for a province to get capped.
@Christiaan Theron: You’re right Christian, it does show how ambitious they are. Instead of moving to another lesser side backing yourself to get into a team packed full of talent that’s more likely to challenge for trophies shows serious ambition and confidence.
@Christiaan Theron: Heaslip, O’Brien, Leavy, Murphy, Van der Flier, Conan and Ruddock. All Irish internationals
@Oval Digest: You mean like Marty Moore and Ian Madigan now presently lost to the Irish national side.
@Christiaan Theron: did James Ryan not get capped for Ireland before playing for Leinster?
@Christiaan Theron: Haha those support my point! Both stayed and were in the Irish squad, when they left they were found out a bit and left out.
Why would you want to head to Ulster or London Irish if you were an ambitious, talented player from Leinster?
If anything, it would show a lack of ambition to move.
@Christiaan Theron: Ulster should try developing their own players instead of relying on Saffers and other provinces.