Sixteen-year-old Aussie qualifier Destanee Aiava faces world No.9 Svetlana Kuznetsova in what will prove to be the biggest match of her short career. Join The Roar from around 1:30pm (AEDT) for live coverage and scores.
Destanee Aiava has broken onto the tennis scene after a stunning start to the Brisbane International.
At 16 years of age, she has already secured a wildcard to the 2017 Australian Open, making history as the first player born in the 2000s to participate in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Aiava is ranked 386th on the WTA Tour, however, she has proved herself by breezing through the qualifiers at Brisbane. Her dream tournament run kicked off with a big straight sets win over last year’s Brisbane semifinalist Samantha Crawford 6-0, 6-4.
She continued her journey through qualifying with a win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2, 6-0 before knocking off German Carina Witthoeft 6-1, 6-1 to gain a spot in the main draw.
After the suspension of play midway through the match, Aiava came back firing to knock off fellow qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands in a shock three-set victory 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The 2016 Australian U18 champion came from nowhere to make her big break and has attracted the attention of Aussie tennis fans with 2,000 turning up for her meeting with Mattek-Sands.
There will be even more eyes on her and how she handles the pressure against the world No.9 will be the big question. So far she has been cool, calm and collected in her journey to the Aussie Open and will be better for her meeting with one of the best players on the WTA Tour.
On paper, Kuznetsova has it all on the world No.387.
She enjoyed a comfortable win over Louisa Chirico in the first round 6-2, 6-4. It came after a semifinal loss to Dominika Cibulkova, ending her 2016 campaign at the WTA Championships 1-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Kuznetsova has plenty of experience on her opponent, having won at Flushing Meadows in 2004 and Roland Garros in 2009.
Aiava has never come up against the two-time grand slam champion. The winner will progress to the quarter-finals against world No.7 Garbine Muguruza.
Prediction
Aiava will get plenty out of her match with the world No.9, however she won’t be able to get past her much more experienced opponent.
Kuznetsova in straight sets.
Join The Roar from around 1:30pm (AEDT) for live coverage following the completion of the men’s doubles between Australia’s Sam Groth and Chris Guccione, and third seed Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
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Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
That concludes The Roar's coverage of Destanee Aiava vs Svetlana Kuznetsova. The action continues tonight from 9:30pm (AEDT) with Ash Barty taking on world no. 1 Angelique Kerber. You can join Connor Bennett for that call. Thanks for following along.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
FINAL Des Aiava's Brisbane International campaign has come to an end at the hands of world no. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. Destanee Aiava 4 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 6
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Roar Guru
Aiava puts it into the net, Kuznetsova breaks and takes the match. Destanee Aiava 4 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 6
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Roar Guru
Aiava makes the unforced error at the net with an open court, match point Destanee Aiava 4 3 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 AD
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Aiava with the ace, Kuznetsova challenges successfully. Aiava forces long, deuce Destanee Aiava 4 3 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 40
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Kuznetsova overplays the backhand, forced, advantage Aiava Destanee Aiava 4 3 AD Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 40
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Aiava forces the error into the net, deuce Destanee Aiava 4 3 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 40
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Aiava double faults Destanee Aiava 4 3 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 30
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Aiava with the service winner Destanee Aiava 4 3 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 15
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Aiava hits the ace, challenged by Kuznetsova successfully. Aiava hits the ace though Destanee Aiava 4 3 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 15
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Aiava on serve, Kuznetsova forces the error off of service Destanee Aiava 4 3 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 0
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Kuznetsova forces, Aiava with a huge break Destanee Aiava 4 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5
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Aiava with a beautiful backhand winner, break point Destanee Aiava 4 2 40 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 0
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Kuznetsova makes the unforced error off her backhand Destanee Aiava 4 2 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 0
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Kuznetsova on serve, she forces the error off of an Aiava backhand into the corner Destanee Aiava 4 2 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5 0
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Kuznetsova breaks with a forehand volley winner at the net Destanee Aiava 4 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 5
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Aiava double faults, break point Destanee Aiava 4 2 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 4 40
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Aiava overplays her shot Destanee Aiava 4 2 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 4 30
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Kuznetsova forces the error off of service Destanee Aiava 4 2 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 4 15
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Kuznetsova hits the backhand volley winner at the net Destanee Aiava 4 2 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6 4 15