Magda Linette is embracing her unlikely function because the final Pole standing on the Australian Open.
Having spent most of her profession within the shadow of former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska – who cheered her on from the participant’s field on Monday – after which incumbent world No.1 Iga Swiatek, the 30-year-old has stepped belatedly into the limelight.
A 3-set upset of No.4 seed Caroline Garcia lifted Linette into the quarter-finals of a grand slam for the primary time, the place she’s going to face former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday.
Linette performed essential roles for Poland in final 12 months’s Billie Jean King Cup – together with a win over Pliskova – and their run to the semi-finals on the United Cup earlier this month and has carried that type into the season’s opening main.
The massive shock is that she won’t be joined within the final eight at Melbourne Park by title favorite Swiatek, who crashed out within the spherical of 16 to Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina.
Poland’s highest-ranked males’s participant, No.10 seed Hubert Hurkacz, additionally didn’t advance from the fourth spherical.
“I just assumed that Iga would be here as well because she has been playing really well,” mentioned Linette.
“But I don’t put extra pressure on myself about it.”
In 29 earlier main appearances, the unseeded Pole had by no means gone past the third spherical.
But the girl greatest identified to native audiences for her win over Ash Barty on the 2021 French Open when the Australian was pressured to withdrew mid-match with a hip harm by no means stopped believing.
“I wasn’t that completely far away,” mentioned Linette.
“At Wimbledon I was quite close one year to get through to the second week when I was a break up in the third set against Paula (Badosa of Spain, the No.30 seed in 2021).
“At Roland Garros, I used to be a arrange in opposition to Ons (Jabeur, the present world No.2).
“I’ve been in the third rounds so many times that I knew I’m capable.
“Then after I began beating gamers like Ash Barty after which Ons, that sort of gave me an additional kick that basically confirmed me that I can actually go far in these tournaments.”
Her opponent on Wednesday will be fellow 30-year-old Pliskova, who has long carried the unofficial and unwanted tag of “greatest girls’s participant but to win a serious”.
Now ranked 31 in the world, Pliskova has made impressive progress to the quarters, dropping just 19 games in four straight-sets triumphs.
The Czech missed last year’s Australian Open with a wrist injury but finished 2022 strongly, including a run to the quarters of the US Open.
“The first rounds will not be one of the best matches of the event,” mentioned Pliskova.
“The later you go, in fact you are taking part in more durable opponents – it doesn’t matter what rating they’re.
“Having the experience can help, but also I feel like there are so many young girls or girls who have never been here before and can play a bit more freely, without the pressure.”
The winner will play both fifth-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka or unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic in Thursday’s semis.
