Tomljanovic follows up Serena Williams win with another to reach US Open quarter-finals

Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (8), 6-1 on Sunday night and will face the winner of the match between Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the No 5 seed, and Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 18 seed, in the next round

Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 US Open in New York Image Credit: AI/ Reuters/ Panoramic

Tennis Majors

September 5, 2022

There was no letdown for Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic after her epic win over 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the previous round of the US Open.

The 29-year-old scored a straight sets win over Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who had won her last 13 matches in a row, to reach her first US Open quarter-final on Sunday night.

The first set was a marathon affair where both players battled toe-to-toe for one hour and 23 minutes. Tomljannovic fought back from 2-5 down and saved eight points before finally claiming it 10-8 in the tiebreaker.

The second seat was relatively easier as she broke Samasonova twice to complete the 7-6, 6-1 win in one hour and 58 minutes.

Soaking it all in.

Alja Tomljanovic has reached her second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal! pic.twitter.com/4LH8dC0YVF
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2022

“I dug deep because I felt like I had more left in me” – Tomljanovic

After the match, Tomljanovic admitted that it had been hard to deal with the attention from her big win on Friday night but she was wanted to go further in the draw.

“(It) just feels really good to back up a win that I think got a lot of attention. Just felt like it’s been a really big 48 hours. I didn’t really feel like myself today the whole day. I don’t know, just felt a little bit drained. After that slow start, I just didn’t want to go out like that. Picked myself up, fought back really hard, played some quality tennis after that.”

“It’s been a little tough just because a lot of people came up to me personally said what they said. That felt really nice. At the same time it did drain my energy a little bit. But I think my will to go further in this tournament was really strong and I didn’t want to stop just after what happened on Friday night. I thought I deserved more. I definitely wanted to go for more. I dug deep because I felt like I had more left in me.”

Tomljanovic added that she was happy to do achieve one of her best results in the United States, a country she feels special about.

“It’s really special because I had my first main-draw win here, I don’t know how old, I came through quallies, won my first round, became top hundred, like 101. I have nice memories from here. My family always comes out. It’s really nice to do well here. After Australia, it’s been always my goal to go deep here. I always thought it would be such a nice time with the family and a lot of friends that I have here. To see it happening feels good. But also it’s not as cool as I thought it would be because I’m really just doing my work and everyone else is having fun (smiling).”

Tomljanovic, ranked No 46, will play Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the No 5 seed, who defeated Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 18 seed, in the late night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

This is the third time that Tomljanovic has reached the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam after making back-to-bac quarters at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022.