(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina praised Daria Kasatkina’s courage to publicly condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine. On Sunday, Svitolina defeated top-ranked Russian female player Kasatkina 6-4 7-6 (5) in the French Open round-of-16.
Last year, Kasatkina publicly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kasatkina’s public comments didn’t sit well with some Russian politicians as there were calls to classify Kasatkina as “a foreign agent.” “Yeah, definitely I acknowledged the match today.
Really thankful for her position that she took. Yeah, she’s really brave person to say it publicly, that not so many players did. She’s a brave one,” Svitolina said.
Svitolina has no issues with facing Russian, Belarusian players
Before beating Kasatkina, Svitolina also defeated Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
In both matches, Svitolina didn’t shake hands with her Russian opponent. By beating Kasatkina, Svitolina set up a French Open quarterfinal against Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka. “Well, I have played last two matches against Russian players so it will not change, everything will be same.
So I’m used to it now, it’s gonna be the same,” Svitolina said. Svitolina, who gave birth…
