January 11 Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk She lost to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the WTA 500 challenging tournament held in Brisbane, Australia.

After the meeting, Kostyuk did not shake Sabalenka’s hand – Ukrainian women have not shaken hands with their “neutral” rivals since the beginning of the large-scale war that Russia started on Ukrainian territory with the help of Belarus.

At the press conference, Sabalenka was asked to comment on Marta’s decision not to shake hands at the net:

“That’s their position. What can I do? I don’t care. I don’t care. When I go to the match, it’s just tennis and sports for me. On the court, I just think about my game and what I need to do to win.

I don’t care who is on that side of the net: Marta Kostyuk or Jessica Pegula. I go out on the field the same way and give everything I have to compete for the cup. I have nothing to prove to anyone. “I go out and compete like an athlete.”

VIDEO. Sabalenka’s reaction to Kostyuk’s decision not to shake hands after the final

The final matches of challenging tournaments took place on January 11 ATP 250 in Brisbane (Australia) and Hong Kong.

Australia won the competition cup Daniil Medvedev (ATP 13) defeated Brandon Nakashima (USA, ATP 33) in the deciding match.

Nakashima was making his fourth Tour-level final and first since September 2022, when he won his only trophy in San Diego.

Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan, ATP 11) became the champion on the courts of Hong Kong. In the decisive match, Bublik defeated the world’s seventh racket, Lorenzo Musetti (Italy).

Bublik won the ninth trophy of his career and will enter the top 10 on Monday. Musetti played his ninth final at Tour level and was in contention for a third trophy.

ATP 250 Brisbane. Difficult. Final

• Daniil Medvedev [1] – Brandon Nakashima (USA) – 6:2, 7:6 (7:1)

ATP 250 Hong Kong. Difficult. Final

• Lorenzo Musetti (Italy) [1] – Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) [2] – 6:7 (2:7), 3:6

January 11, 2026 is a historic date for Ukrainian tennis.

For the first time in history, two Ukrainian tennis players played in the finals of parallel WTA tournaments (category 250 and above).

Sunday Elina Svitolina Defeated Wang Xinyu in the deciding match of the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland and Marta Kostyuk She lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the cup match of the WTA 500 competition in Brisbane.

Ukrainian commentator Alexander Chernenko posted an interesting fact on his Telagram channel: “Has it ever happened before that two Ukrainian women played the final of WTA tournaments on the same day? This never happened at a major Tour event, but it happened once in the WTA 125 category.”

On March 4, 2018, Lesya Tsurenko defeated Stefanie Fegele to become the champion in the WTA 250 tournament held in Acapulco. Katerina Volodko (Bondarenko) lost to Sara Herrana in the WTA 125 final held in Indian Wells on the same day.

Video review of Elina Svitolina – Wang Xinyu (WTA 250 Final in Auckland)

Video review of the match Marta Kostyuk – Aryna Sabalenka (WTA 500 Final in Brisbane)