"Only my parents believed in me": Yulia Putintseva attributes success in tennis to parents' support after beating Coco Gauff in Cincinnati

Kazakhstan’s tennis player Yulia Putintseva has opened up receiving support from her parents during her early days which played a key role in her success on the court. The 29-year-old registered one of the biggest wins of her career as she defeated America’s young tennis star Coco Gauff in the second round of the Cincinnati Open with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on Thursday.

Talking after the match, Putintseva opened up the support she received from her parents since childhood when she started playing tennis. The Moscow-born star also revealed the words of her father which helped her fight in tough circumstances.

"Since I was a little kid, only my parents believed in me,” she said. “They said I was able to do well with my height. Even though I’m smaller than the other ones in the group. My father was like ‘You’re the best. You’re the best. You have to believe you’re the best. Otherwise it’s not gonna work.’ And I was always putting that in my head. That I always have to fight. If I fight and if I’m there every point, I can do it.”

The result was a big one for Putintseva as it was her first win over the current world number two in four outings after three consecutive defeats. The world number 34 will now face Spain’s Paula Badosa in the round of 16 of the competition on Friday. The former world number two booked her place in the next round after beating Anna Kalinskaya in the round of 32 in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. It will be the fifth meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous four meetings, Badosa has a clear edge as she came out on top on three occasions and suffered just a solitary defeat. Their most recent meeting came during the second round of the French Open earlier this year where Badosa came out on top with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.