Twenty-eight-year-old Croat Petra Martic advanced to the fourth round of the US Open for the first time, when she defeated 2018 semifinalist Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Her reward? A date with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Get to know a little more about the No. 22 seed, a WTA veteran who has upset many top players over the years.
She’s having the best year of her career.
Martic won her first-ever WTA title in April at the Instanbul Cup, defeating Marketa Vondrousova in the final. She ended the clay season with a 15-3 record, including her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open, and, after advancing to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon this past July, rose to a career-high ranking of world No. 20.
Her game can fluster the world’s best.
Martic possesses every shot in the book, as well as power. Just this year, Martic shocked Karolina Pliskova in the third round of the French Open. She also counts wins over Petra Kvitova, Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys.
She might be ranked even higher if not for injuries.
Martic was out of the sport for almost a year in 2016-17 with a back injury and fell outside the Top 600. After making the Round of 16 at the French Open in 2017 (then ranked 290 in the world), she told reporters she didn’t think she would ever be able to play again.
Her coach is a former fellow player, Sandra Zaniewska.
Zaniewska, one of the few female coaches on tour, reached a career-high of world No. 142 in 2012. She’s actually a year younger than Martic. "When I started working with her, everybody was doubting my decision,” Martic told the WTA in an interview earlier this year. “People underestimated it, people even laughed at it, said I did a crazy thing… I knew she would understand my game better than maybe other coaches who had more experience. When she played, she had a similar style to mine.”
She’s never played Serena Williams before.
Even though Martic has been on the tour since 2008, she has remarkably never shared a court with the six-time US Open champion.
