Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk celebrated the biggest title of her career with a backwards handspring after defeating Mirra Andreeva to win the Madrid Open and capture her maiden WTA 1000 title. The 23-year-old secured her third career title with a 6-3 7-5 victory over the eighth seed Andreeva, marking her second title in a month following a WTA 250 win in Rouen.
Kostyuk, who has always shown promise, will move to a career-high world No. 15 on Monday after an impressive run in the Spanish capital. Following her backwards flip, she posed for photographs at the Caja Magica with her two dogs and a pair of men's underwear she described as lucky.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster Movistar Plus, Kostyuk explained the story behind the lucky shorts: 'We have a tournament laundry service and sometimes the clothes get mixed up. Last year we ended up with this piece of underwear where it was written Lucky Shorts. So we kept it. My coach Sandra Zaniewska kept it as a lucky charm. She drove to her father's house just to pick it up before traveling here again for the tournament. We made this promise that if I'd win we would bring the Lucky Shorts for the photoshoot with the trophy.'
She added: 'This trophy tastes like champagne, no doubt about it. Honestly, watching this tournament as a child and remembering all the people who've won it before me, I never thought this was possible, it's amazing. It's one of the toughest tournaments of the year, and everyone plays so well, especially now. So it certainly tastes good, but I just want to enjoy this today and that's it.'
Andreeva, who cut a frustrated figure after the defeat, later explained her emotions at her press conference: 'Every time I lose, it's like the end of the world to me. Sometimes I see other players smile right after the matches they lost. I don't understand how people do it. I wish I could do it. Every match that I lose is obviously very disappointing and very painful to me.'
Kostyuk took the first set with a single break of serve. The second set was a closer affair, with both players breaking each other twice before Kostyuk made another decisive break to edge ahead 6-5, and she closed out victory on her third match point.
