Marta Kostyuk has dedicated her first WTA trophy to those who are ‘fighting and dying’ in her home country of Ukraine after winning the inaugural Austin Open.
The 20-year-old battled her way to a 6-3, 7-5, win over Russia’s Varvara Gracheva who she did not shake hands with after their match. Kostyuk has previously stated that she will not shake hands with players from Russia due to the war in her country, as well as those from Belarus whose government are accused of supporting the conflict. Thousands of people have been killed in the Ukraine war which began on February 24th 2022.
“Everyone who is in the stands and everyone who is watching, especially in Ukraine, I want to say ‘Slava Ukraini (glory to Ukraine),’” Kostyuk said during the trophy ceremony.
“Being in the position that I’m in right now it’s extremely special to win this title. I want to dedicate this title to Ukraine and all of the people who are fighting and dying right now.”
Kostyuk’s victory over Gracheva was a tougher encounter than the scoreline suggested. Overall, there were 13 breaks of serve in the match with the Ukrainian winning eight of them. She won just 46% of her service points which was only slightly better than her opponent who won 44%.
The triumph comes five years after Kostyuk achieved her first major breakthrough on the Tour by reaching the third round of the Australian Open at the age of 15. Since then, she has experienced a roller-coaster journey in the sport. Until her latest tournament, she was the highest-ranked WTA player yet to have featured in a Tour final.
“Very surreal,” Kostyuk said of her win in Austin. “I was just playing match by match, and I think this is how you win tournaments, I guess! It’s not so easy to talk right now, but obviously I’m extremely happy.
“I’m just happy to be healthy and happy to play tennis and see the crowd enjoy my game.”
Kostyuk has risen up the rankings to a career-high of No.40 on Monday. She is one of four Ukrainian players currently ranked in the top 100.
Vekic returns to winning ways
In the Mexican city of Monterrey, Donna Vekic won her fourth WTA trophy by stunning world No.5 Caroline Garcia 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, at the Abierto GNP Seguros Open. In a tightly contested encounter, Vekic won 74% of her first service points and blasted 13 aces past the Frenchwoman. In the decider, the Croatian fended off eight break points before breaking Garcia in the last game of the match to secure victory.
“It was a crazy match until the end, [Garcia] was playing so well, playing so deep,” said Vekic.”I was trying to win as many points as I could. It was not easy, but I’m really happy to win.”
The 26-year-old has reached the quarter-final stage or better at every tournament she has played so far in 2023. Earlier this year, she reached the last eight of the Australian Open in what was her best performance at a Grand Slam since 2019. Then in Linz, she also reached the quarter-final stage before losing to Maria Sakkari.
“It’s been a great start of the year for me. If the title didn’t come now, I believe that it would have come soon. So I’ve been playing good tennis, and I just need to keep working hard and hopefully stay healthy, and I’m sure I will keep having good results.” She said.
Veki, who is currently ranked 23rd in the world, has endured a turbulent time on the Tour. She considered quitting the sport due to doubts over her fitness after undergoing knee surgery two years ago. Those concerns are now behind her.
Garcia is the first top-10 player Vekic has defeated this season.
