Daria Saville says her confidence is on the rise in the leadup to the Australian Open after claiming her biggest win since returning from a serious knee injury. The 29-year-old toppled Sofia Kenin 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 on Wednesday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Hobart International.
Saville, a former top-20 player, returned to the tour in June after being out for about nine months after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament. Her world ranking dropped to as low as No 322 after her injury, but now sits at No 133.
The victory against the world No 38 Kenin – the Australian Open women’s singles champion in 2020, is Saville’s best by ranking since her return, coming after a three-set win against the world No 46 Anna Blinkova on Monday in round one in Hobart.
“It gives me confidence and the belief maybe I was lacking since coming back from an ACL,” Saville said. “It’s a nice reward not just for me but for my team as well. I can still improve a lot, but since coming back from the injury it’s the best I’ve played.”
The win featured 13 aces, including one on set point and one on match point, and a run of 15 successive points in the second set.
Saville, a wildcard entrant in Hobart, was granted the final discretionary wildcard for the Australian Open before the country’s highest-ranked woman Arina Rodionova. Rodionova lost in the opening round of qualifying and launched a scathing attack on Tennis Australia, claiming the governing body had a vendetta against her.
Saville will meet the Chinese third seed Lin Zhu on Thursday for a semi-final berth.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Hobart top seed and world No 30 Elise Mertens cruised past the former finalist Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-3. Merterns and Saville will meet in the semi-finals should the pair win through.
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Mertens, who won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, next meets the Dutch veteran Arantxa Rus, whom she has not played for nine years.
“That would be amazing [to win the tournament again], but we’re only in the quarter-finals – I need to win three more,” Mertens said.
