Costoulas chalks up wins and Greek fans as semi-finals are set
She began playing tennis after watching Kim Clijsters compete at Grand Slams, now Sofia Costoulas has designs on following in the footsteps of her compatriot and triumphing at the Australian Open.
Costoulas’s interest in tennis piqued after watching her fellow Belgian compete at the US Open, which she famously won on three occasions, most recently in 2010, before topping the podium here in Melbourne a year later.
After beating No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider for the second time this season – the first being in the quarter-finals at J1 Traralgon, a tournament Costoulas won – the 16-year-old is within touching of the Australian Open girls’ final.
Costoulas, who is yet to lose this season, dispatched Shnaider 6-3 5-7 6-4 for her 10th junior match-win of an increasingly impressive campaign, setting-up a semi-final showdown with home favourite Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz.
“My confidence at the moment is great,” said Costoulas, who is ranked No. 10 in the junior world standings and seeded No. 8 here. “I have won a lot of matches in the last few weeks and I have a lot of belief as a result.
“But this is still a Junior Grand Slam and all the best junior players are here. Every match is really, really tough and probably comes down to the details: who gets a little luck or plays better in the tough moments.
“I am certainly benefitting from being healthy as last year I was injured for quite a long time. I am happy that I am able to play without injury and that’s a big thing for me this year.
“After that, I would like to win a Junior Grand Slam in 2022, so we will see if it is here or somewhere else.”
Should Costolous end the week atop the podium she would be the first Junior Grand Slam champion from Belgium since 2012 when Kimmer Coppejans claimed victory at the Roland Garros Junior Championships.
The last Belgian girl to conquer all before her at a major was An-Sophie Mestach at the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2011, although when talking of nationality, Costoulas is keen to reference her Greek heritage.
“My Greek culture is very important to me,” added Costoulas. “I love Greek culture and I love Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari. I look up to them both and I love that I am a little bit Greek.
“I have a lot of family in Greece and I could speak fluent Greek when I was little until my grandfather, who was Greek, died. Afterwards, I stopped speaking the language, which I’m a little disappointed about, although hopefully I can pick it back up again.
“My grandfather was also the only one who played tennis for fun. Neither of my parents play tennis. My dad was a professional football player and I started playing tennis after watching Kim Clijsters at the US Open.”
Drawing swords with Costoulas for a place in the Australian Open Junior Championships final is Kempenaers-Pocz, who reached the last four following a commanding 6-1 6-2 victory over Germany’s Carolina Kuhl.
Kempenaers-Pocz is ranked No. 220 in the girls’ rankings, having been at No. 89 just over a year ago, but has significant pedigree, evidenced by her defeat of world No. 143 Rebecca Marino at Adelaide earlier this month.
Indeed, the 17-year-old’s progress and development has been stifled by Covid-19 travel restriction which have complicated and prevented Australian players from travelling abroad. Kempenaers-Pocz is keen to make up for lost time.
“I am not going to lie, it has been very, very tough,” she said. “Most of us Aussies have not been able to travel and haven’t been able to get the exposure to Europeans and everyone overseas, so it has been tough.
“I have just been training a lot and playing a lot of local tournaments, trying to build my game as best I can. But this year I want to build up my ITF ranking and play at all the Junior Grand Slams if I can.
“I’m just happy to be here playing competitive tennis finally. I did not expect to reach the semi-finals, although I am happy with where I am at right now and the experience that I am getting. I am so pumped for tomorrow.”
Inspired by women’s world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, Kempenaers-Pocz also had a taste of the high-life when she teamed up with two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep in the doubles event at last year’s Australian Open.
“That was such a great experience and I was so thankful to play with her,” added Kempenaers-Pocz. “She was so professional and kept everything professional. I think I took a lot of things away, especially how she acted off court.”
The other semi-final in the girls’ draw sees Croatian top seed Petra Marcinko take on Liv Hovde of the United States after both posted straight sets victories in the last eight. Marcinko dispatched Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic 7-5 6-2, while Hovde accounted for Greece’s Michaela Laki, 6-4 6-0.
The presence of Hovde in the girls’ draw and top seed Bruno Kuzuhara in the boys’ retains the possibility of a United States double which last occurred in 1992 when Lindsay Davenport and Brian Dunn both conquered the US Open.
In the girls’ doubles, meanwhile, top seeds Clervie Ngounoue and Shnaider overpowered Australian wild cards Kempenaers-Pocz and Taylah Preston to reach the final. They will face Canada’s Victoria Mboko and Kayla Cross following their defeat of Marcinko and Denmark’s Johanne Christine Svendsen.