The return of Svitolina, the fight for the rights of Ukrainian women and the problems in Houston

The first week of April in tennis left behind the week in which many tournaments of medium importance were played. The most prestigious took place on green clay in Charleston, it was there that Ukraine’s former first racket Elina Svitolina returned to the field. The girls also played at the tournament in Colombia, with the boys taking part in three competitions in the ATP 250 category, not without surprise.

WTA 500 Charleston

It was announced in mid-March that Svitolina would play in the Credit One Charleston Open. Elina gave birth to a daughter on October 15, about six months have passed since then. Many believed that after pregnancy Svitolina would not have the motivation to return to court, and it can be understood she. Still, Elina has pretty much everything in her personal life and has earned a lot of money over the years of her successful career. However, there are still at least two unclosed gestalts on the field, and an athlete of this level will always find motivation.

As for the practical side, there were many fears before such a big tournament. The draw was as symbolic as possible: during the war with the Russian Federation, Elina was given a native of Moscow under the flag of Kazakhstan with the beautiful surname Putintseva. Of the pluses here, it can only be noted that Yulia is a 100% client of Svitolina, because she does not have much of an advantage over such tennis players as Elina. Statistics confirm this, a Ukrainian has won the last six matches. Moreover, Putintseva does not shine this year, so even after such a long break there were some chances.

The match confirmed this, the game was very contentious for a long time. Elina even managed to catch the first set at the tie-break, but it was difficult to keep the bar high and Putintseva did not slow down. Always one of the best of the tour in terms of stamina and footwork, Yulia was definitely not going to give up on victory like that. The second and third sets were left to the tennis player with a Kazakh passport, but in the end Elina even got a chance to do more. It did not work out, but I liked Svitolina, her fighting character was not lost, that is, if the body can withstand the necessary loads, we will still see many interesting matches with her participation. In the near future, Elina will play in two ITF tournaments in Switzerland and Portugal. It’s a great opportunity to play a few matches against intermediate tennis players, win some fights to gain confidence and better prepare for bigger competitions. Very soon, Elina will use her special rank (27th place), which will allow her to play in 12 tournaments, including two Grand Slams and two WTA 1000s. There is no doubt that there will be many wild cards for an athlete. at this size.

In addition to Elina, Lesya Tsurenko and Angelina Kalinina played in Charleston. Finally a more experienced Ukrainian who didn’t start with the qualifiers defeated Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea in the first round of base. But in the second round, it fell to Lesa to beat Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who started to gain momentum after a tough start to the season. As a result, Zhaber also reached the final where she competed with Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, who had previously completed her collaboration with Dmitry Tursunov.

Kalinina is not showing her best tennis this spring, and the match against Anna Kalinskaya was no exception. Angelina was leading 3:0, she had two points in the first set, but that wasn’t enough to win. By the way, after this win, the Ukrainian woman’s opponent seriously disintegrated, stopping Alize Cornet and Victoria Azarenka, but had to withdraw in the quarter-final match with Zhaber.

WTA 250 Bogota

In Colombia, the honor of Ukrainian tennis was defended by Dayana Yastremska. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long here either. In the first round of base, Dayana was defeated in three difficult sets by Brazil’s Carolina Alves, who had previously successfully overcome the qualifying hurdle. Do not forget that Yastremska is our second number in the Czech Republic match to be played in Turkey on April 14-15. Such results, frankly, do not add optimism before the team meeting, where we already seem weak.

One of the interesting things in Bogota can be noted the good performance of the Englishman Francesca Jones, who has four fingers on her hands due to a genetic disease. Only experienced Tatyana Maria managed to stop the Leeds native in 1/2 final, defeating the promising 21-year-old American Peyton Stearns in the final. By the way, it was last year’s defense of the title for the German.

ATP 250 Estoril / Marrakech / Houston

A lot of top tennis players missed this week, but there was some catching up this season. One of the disappointments of 2023 was Kasper Ruud. The Norwegian, who was in the top 5 tennis player status before the tournament in Estoril, won only 5 out of 11 matches. He did manage in Portugal, however, having to play a definitive tie-break against Kenten Alice in the 1/4 finals. from France. This is Kasper’s fourth consecutive title on clay courts and it probably won’t dilute them on other surfaces in the near future. Ukrainian Oleksiy Krutykh played in the tournament qualifiers in Estoril, but did not manage to win a single match.

There were no Ruud-sized tennis players in Morocco, the first seeded ATP number 21 was Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian started well but lost in the 1/4 final to Alexander Muller of France. Müller eventually reached the first ATP final of his career, but lost to Roberto Carballes Baena. For the Spaniard, this was the second title in his career. It is curious that he won first place in South America – Ecuador (Quito-2018). Such success has not yet been achieved in Europe and North America.

The rivalry in Houston was the game most affected by the weather. The tennis players could not go to the field due to the rain for days, so they had to catch up with the schedule. Of course, not everyone made it, some had a little luck with the weather, some a little less. Francis Tiafoe played four matches in two days and confirmed his seed leader status. Fortunately, the top four did not have the strongest, especially dangerous opponents. The American has already won the clay contestants, but won the ATP tournament for the first time.

Ukrainians at ITF tournaments

At the Challenger in Barletta, Denis Molchanov, in duet with Zdenek Kolář, competed in the final, but lost to the Italians Jacopo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli.

Eric Vanschelboim did well in Dubrovnik at the 25,000th. At the competitions in Croatia, she won doubles with Adam Taylor of Australia, beating another Ukrainian, Ivan Kremenchutsky, in the final. Eric also reached the 1/4 final in the singles. Anna Poznikhirenko also played in the 1/4 final of the ITF 25,000. Lost to Whitney Osuigwa at American Jackson.

out of court

Ukrainian tennis players continue to compete not only on the court, but also in classes. For the first time since the start of full-scale Russian military aggression, the WTA Players Council spoke to Ukrainian women about their problems. Unfortunately, this is not yet producing the result we all want. Perhaps from the very beginning, the chance to do more was missed when the Ukrainians continued to play against the Russians, even if they came out without a flag. Now such a decision will seem at least strange and untimely. In other sports, Russians are starting to return to competitions, turning to tennis, and this is also one of the arguments of the leaders of Ukrainian sport.

Last week, the Ukrainians’ position was supported not only by the world’s first racket, Iga Sviontek, but also by two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. The Czech woman said she appreciated the decision of the Wimbledon organizers not to allow players from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus to participate in the final draw of the tournament. Representatives of Russian tennis did not like it very much, for example, the same ex-second racket of the world Svetlana Kuznetsova gave a strong speech about “foreign policy” and “all this Russian hostility”. After reading his chaotic theses in “cotton bingo” style, you are once again convinced that there is no one to talk to.

As for Wimbledon 2023, this year tennis players from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus will be considered subject to “neutral” status, which would be expressed in the absence and absence of support for Russian military aggression. State funding from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

Interesting news came from China. For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, ATP tournaments are scheduled to be held here. WTA has yet to release a schedule, and the Zhang Shuai case is not yet complete.