Comeback queen Daria Saville has produced her best performance since returning from a second ACL reconstruction to storm past former Hobart International champion Sofia Kenin and into the 2024 quarterfinals.
And she did it on a day the tournament set a new Wednesday attendance record with 2577 fans rolling through the gates, including 1471 for the dazzling “Dasha” night session.
Just seven months back on tour following nine gruelling months of rehabilitation, Saville dismantled 2019 Hobart winner Kenin in the second set on centre court Wednesday night in a 7-6(3), 6-1 rout which contained 13 aces and an incredible 80 per cent first serve percentage.
In stark contrast to the first set, which produced arguably the best tennis of the tournament as both players traded blows in a highly entertaining encounter, the Aussie wildcard found another gear in the second to leave Kenin stunned.
Having saved two break points from 15-40 and then firing consecutive aces to hold the opening service game, the 29-year-old fell 40-0 down in the next as Kenin moved to the edge of levelling proceedings.
From that point the home crowd hero reeled off 15 consecutive points as the momentum swung savagely.
American Kenin finally got on the board in the sixth game but it only delayed the inevitable, with Saville – like she did in the first set tiebreaker – firing down an ace to seal the set and the match in one hour and 37 minutes.
After the first set took an hour and six minutes, the second was over in just 31 minutes.
“It just gives me confidence and the belief that maybe I was lacking since coming back from an ACL and it’s nice reward, not just for me, but for everyone in my team,” Saville said.
“Definitely, yeah. I think I can still improve a lot but since coming back from injury, that’s the best I’ve played.
“I think Sofia dropped off and little bit, her intensity went down and when she didn’t hold when she was down one-love and 40-love I think that kind of hurt her.
“But I built the confidence, I was more aggressive and then I think her intensity went down a little bit.”
Saville will now face third seed Lin Zhu in Thursday’s quarterfinals, brimming with confidence she is firmly in the mix to capture a second career WTA title.
“That felt pretty good. I don’t know how many aces I’ve hit [13]… that could be a record. Hopefully it will translate to tomorrow as well.
“Every tournament that I play is its own tournament, I don’t treat this as a warm up. I want to go as deep as possible.”
Earlier in the evening on West Court second seed Emma Navarro was too strong for Magdalena Frech, defying some wild winds in a 6-3, 6-3 result which continued her strong start to 2024 following a semifinal appearance in Auckland last week.
Yulia Putintseva then defeated fifth seed Marie Bouzkova in the second match of the night session to make it consecutive quarterfinal appearances in Hobart.
Thursday’s order of play has been released, with action starting from 1pm.
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