Editor’s note: At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, wtatennis.com sat down with Nikola Bartunkova in a get-to-know interview about her game-style, rise through the ranks and more.

BEIJING — A year and a half ago, Nikola Bartunkova was ranked No. 517 in the world and playing weekly World Tennis/ITF Events in Europe. 

Eighteen months later, she’s transcended through the rankings and sits at career-high No. 34 ahead of her first WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz 1000 quarterfinal at the China Open, a run highlighted by her upset of World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round. Tuesday, she defeated Sinja Kraus 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in the Round of 16. 

“It’s been an unbelievable year for me,” Bartunkova said in Beijing. “I didn’t expect before this year that I play like this and I will be here. It’s great, but just now I focus on myself, improve my game because it’s still 50-50 every match. 

“I’m still young, so I need to have more experience and this is my goal now.”

For Bartunkova, it wasn’t just one tournament that really elevated her ranking. Rather, it was the 20-year-old’s consistency from tournament-to-tournament that gradually put her in the spotlight. 

Bartunkova’s first breakout came in Guadalajara last September. As a main-draw wild card, she cruised through to the semifinals, where eventual champion and current top 15 player Iva Jovic edged her out. 

Then, at the turn of the season, Bartunkova really caught tennis fans’ attention at the Australian Open in Melbourne, where she was a qualifier. 

Advancing to her first Grand Slam main draw, she upset Daria Kasatkina in the first round and then produced the tournament’s first top 10 upset in a victory over Belinda Bencic in the second round. Bencic had entered the match on a 12-match singles winning streak.

On the clay as a lucky loser in Rome, she produced a run to the Round of 16, upsetting Madison Keys in the third round. During the grass-court season, she made the final at the Birmingham 125 before narrowly losing to then-No. 1 Sabalenka in Berlin’s quarterfinals, a match she proved to herself she could compete with the best. 

Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise to her that she ousted Sabalenka in Beijing. 

Bartunkova upsets Sabalenka in Beijing for first career Top 3 win

“It tells that I beat a No. 1 player, and she’s a Grand Slam champion,” Bartunkova said. “In Berlin, I had a very close match with her.  I knew can play with [top players]. 

“From Berlin, I knew I could do this.”

This meteoric rise can come down to the Czech’s brand of tennis, one she dubs as “unpredictable.” It’s an aggressive style of tennis, one with plenty of shot variety, and she took inspiration from Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz, Bartunkova said after beating Bencic in Melbourne. 

“I think my game is the same with all the players,” Bartunkova said on her mixture of forehands, slices and volleys. “Sometimes [the opponent] has better movement, more faster, but my game is the same always. I try to go for volleys. I try to go more for my shots, so that’s the plan.”

This playstyle is what’s powered her through Beijing, and she’ll put it to the test against compatriot Karolina Muchova in Thursday’s quarterfinals.