22-year-old Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur scored the biggest win of her career over seventh seed Simona Halep 6-2 0-6 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Snigur, who had to relocate to Warsaw due to the war in Ukraine, participated in the Tennis Plays for Peace exhibition on this court last week, helping raise over $1.2 million dollars for humanitarian relief efforts in her home country.
Snigur got to make her Slam main draw debut in New York after coming through a tough qualifying campaign. The 22-year-old opened her qualifying campaign with a straight-set win over Tessah Andrianjafitrimo before taking out tour veterans Yanina Wickmayer and Nao Hibino.
Halep, on the other hand, was coming in as a potential title favorite, albeit with some question marks around her fitness. The former #1 left Toronto a champion after an impressive run that included wins over Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula but could only play one match in Cincinnati before she was forced to withdraw due to a right thigh injury.
Halep is a famously difficult player to beat, still one of the most effective counterpunchers on the tour at 30 years old with impeccable fitness and very solid groundstrokes. What Snigur brought was a very flat and unique game that kept Halep pushed back. The Ukrainian’s flat forehand with a long takeback was firing throughout the first set and was the primary weapon causing the former #1 problems.
Snigur jumped away to a double break to start the match though the nerves showed a bit as Halep took one of the breaks back. The Ukrainian restored her lead in the very next game and held on to win the set 6-2. The 22-year-old was solid on serve, getting 71% of first serves in and winning 67% of the points after it while attacking Halep’s second serve, winning 8 out of 10 points in the first set when the Romanian missed her first serve.
The second set saw a major shift towards Halep, Snigur seemingly running out of luck with her groundstrokes. The Romanian dominated, dropping more than one point only once in the second set. The 22-year-old made 13 unforced errors and the match seemed all but over as we headed into the deciding set.
Snigur came back with a new fire, once again firing flat balls deep from both wings while finding angles to keep Halep on her toes. The errors started to pile up for the 30-year-old and the Ukrainian was in the driver’s seat. Snigur jumped away to a 5-2 lead but the nerves began to creep in once again as she got broken trying to serve out the match. The 22-year-old got two match points on Halep’s serve the very next game but did not take the chances, the deciding set going to 5-4 with the momentum on Halep’s side. Snigur refocused though and served the match out to win 6-2 0-6 6-4, bursting into tears as she ran towards the net for a handshake.
The tears kept coming throughout the post-match interview where Snigur thanked everyone present, her opponent, her family and acknowledged the fact she got to try out the court a week prior. “I think it helped me a little bit, playing here in Tennis Plays for Peace but I’m very very nervous,” the Ukrainian said, finishing her interview by shouting: “Slava Ukraini!”
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