In 29 previous attempts, Magda Linette has never won more than two matches in a row at a grand slam tournament. Now, after an extraordinary run, she is in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
Funny thing, though: Linette feels like she’s done it all before. The big crowds. The show courts. The star opponents. That’s probably because she has.
Linette, a 30-year-old Pole currently ranked 45th in the world but about to climb a lot higher, has faced Serena Williams in the cavernous environs of the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium and Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon. From Tianjin to Stanford, she’s played some of the biggest names in the sport’s recent history: Maria Sharapova, Naomi Osaka, Garbiñe Muguruza, Venus Williams, the list goes on.
The difference now? She’s winning. Sure, Linette has had some big victories before, most notably at Roland Garros, where she felled Ons Jabeur on Court Philippe-Chatrier last summer, a year after accounting for an injured Ashleigh Barty on the same court. But now, for the first time, the successes are coming thick and fast.
Linette followed up her impressive fourth-round win over Caroline Garcia, the fourth seed and WTA Finals champion, with another outstanding performance, dispatching former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-5. In the semi-finals, she will meet Aryna Sabalenka, the fifth seed, who ran out a 6-3, 6-2 winner against Croatia’s Donna Vekic. It is more than Linette ever expected, but familiarity with the big stage has enabled the Pole, filling the void left by her compatriot Iga Swiatek’s absence, to take things in her stride.
“I had so much experience on those big courts before, because almost every grand slam I ended up on a big court one way or another,” said Linette, who has beaten four seeded players in Melbourne. “I played so many big players already. It’s just nothing really new for me. Just another match.
“Of course, it’s way more far in the draw. But still, it kind of feels the same. Because I played Karolina in the first round already twice at the US Open, so it feels quite normal.”
It is all a far cry from two years ago, when Linette’s knee gave way on the eve of the tournament, forcing her to withdraw. The longstanding problem would eventually require surgery, but from that nadir came fresh perspective and a newfound composure.
“It was honestly the most painful experience of my life,” said Linette. “Nobody could diagnose me for almost 11 weeks, so I was out for a total of five months. It was something really basic. At the end of the day, I had meniscus surgery.
“It definitely changed a lot for me. I became a little bit calmer. I changed a lot in my life and made some tough decisions, and I think I’m getting rewarded for it now.”
Linette was helped on her way by an erratic performance from Pliskova, whose 36 unforced errors including two consecutive double faults in the penultimate game. The Czech, who had won seven of the previous nine meetings between the pair but lost the two most recent, suggested Linette’s consistency had been a decisive factor.
“I hit some really good serves, then she still like puts many balls back,” said Pliskova. “That’s the pressure where you want to go for more and then you miss. I think she really made it difficult for me, not missing many balls, not giving anything for free, any mistakes. I just didn’t play a great match.”
Sabalenka has yet to lose a set since she arrived in Australia, but she was forced to navigate a testing passage midway through the opener as Vekic recovered from an early break before threatening to edge ahead.
“There were a lot of tough moments,” said Sabalenka. “I just kept saying, ‘Just stay in the game, fight for it, don’t give her easy points, make her work for it.’
“That’s how I was able to get out from those situations.”
The auspices are encouraging for Sabalenka as she contemplates a fourth tilt at a grand slam final, having previously been thwarted in the last four at Wimbledon and, twice, at the US Open. She has won both her previous matches against Linette, including an emphatic victory at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, but she will be taking nothing for granted.
“It’s going to be a great test for me, if I can actually keep myself calm,” said Sabalenka. “In the semi-finals before, I got there with up and downs. [That] didn’t help me at all.
“So right now it’s going to be a real test for me, if I can keep myself calm like I was keeping myself calm during these past matches.”