Katie Volynets impresses herself in step up display against Ons Jabeur
Katie Volynets is enjoying quite the Indian Wells run after she put away No 6 seed Ons Jabeur to reach the round of 32 in the desert.
Volynets earned the biggest win of her career after getting the better of WTA World No 6 Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.
The 22-year-old American wildcard was able to win back-to-back matches at a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career after defeating Mirra Andreeva in the opening round and then getting one over on Jabeur.
She defeated Jabeur to record her second career Top 10 victory; her first came against Veronika Kudermetova at the 2023 Australian Open.
In their first WTA Tour singles encounter, Volynets prevailed off the back of her stronger baseline defence and superior court coverage compared to Jabeur.
Despite dropping out of the Top 100 in January, Volynets has quietly had a good season thus far.
She has advanced to two WTA 125 semi-finals and one tour-level quarter-final in Hua Hin.
“I’m so honoured to have a wild card here and I’m so honoured to play Ons,” Volynets said on court. “I’ve been watching her on TV for years so it’s just such an honour to play here on this court against such a wonderful player.”
“I’m definitely pleased with how I was able to execute today,” Volynets said.
“I think it was very close the entire time. She was throwing in some amazing drop shots and slices and injecting some pace. I’m glad I was able to overcome that.”
Being an accomplished swimmer, Volynets’ mother hoped her daughter would share her passion for swimming. Obviously, it didn’t stick and she is now making waves in the tennis world.
“I would actually fake stomach aches after tennis practice because I really didn’t want to go swimming,” Volynets said.
“In tennis you don’t repeat one shot over and over. Nothing against swimming, but for me personally I felt that you just take one lap, two laps, three laps, four different strokes.
“In tennis there’s so many different shots, and that kept it really exciting for me all the time. I’m still really excited about every shot.”
After moving from Ukraine, the family received a tennis racket, and Volynets’ elder brother would play tennis with their parents.
When Volynets was just five years old, she struck her first tennis ball and fell in love with the sport.
“One day I got really bored with my coloring books. So then I was, like, ‘Dad, can I borrow your racquet? Can I try?'” She immediately asked if she could have tennis lessons.
“The funny thing is we started playing in the house. My dad would be, like, ‘Hit it into my hand,’ and there was a chandelier up there. No pressure.
“After that we moved on to Heather Farms Park. That was where I had my first lessons. Then to Moraga Country Club.”
