Daria Saville seemed to have no chance against Elise Mertens. The Australian, who was only in the 409th place in the WTA ranking before the tournament, faced the Belgian, seeded with “20”. The match started as expected – Mertens broke her rival and led confidently. Saville, however, managed to make up for the losses, and then break the Belgian and won the set 6: 3.
The second set started in the same way as the first. Mertens started with a breakout and led 2-0. Saville made up for the losses again and led to a draw. In the 9th game, however, the Belgian again managed to win the game at the Australian service, won the set 6: 4 and led to the decisive game.
Saville brilliantly started the third set, breaking Mertens twice and taking the lead 4-0. And although she was broken after a while, she kept her advantage until the end, winning the set 6: 3 and the whole match, going to the fourth round of the Indian Wells tournament.
Saville was born in Moscow and supports Ukraine during the war
In addition to the outcome of the match, Saville’s outfit caught the attention of the tennis world. The Australian, who was born in Moscow and until 2014 represented the colors of Russia, was dressed in a blue and yellow outfit. In this way, she wanted to emphasize that she is with the Ukrainians who were attacked by Russia.
Saville openly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. – What is happening there is terrible. And it is also very close to my heart. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are now in Russia, in Moscow, and talking to me in recent days, they are very worried and concerned, ‘Saville emphasized after the match. “I just hope this clears up soon, and so does the rest of us.” I’m trying to talk about it and I hope many other players will do the same, she added.
But that’s not the only sensation Saville made at Indian Wells. In the second round, she eliminated Tunisia Ons Jabeur, seeded from “9”, winning 7: 5, 6: 7 (0), 6: 4. Her next rival will be Maria Sakkari, who is 6th in the WTA ranking.
Still playing in Indian Wells, they will face Angelique Kerber on Tuesday. The definitely favorite of the match seems to be a Polish woman who has a chance to be even on the 2nd position in the WTA ranking next week. Christmas must win the next two matches and hope that none of the rivals behind it will be able to win the entire tournament.
Source: Sport
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