Olympic vice-champion refuses to play against Ukrainian tennis player at a major tournament in the United States

Famous Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk (WTA No. 32) has easily reached the last 16 of the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, USA. The 21-year-old's rival, Czech Marketa Vondroušová (WTA No. 7), refused to take the court and withdrew from the competition without explanation.

In the quarterfinal battle, Marta will take on the winner of the match between Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (WTA No. 24) and Beatriz Haddad Maya (WTA No. 13) from Brazil. The girls will start the game on March 11 at 05:00 Kyiv time.

It is worth noting that in the third round Marta Kostiuk defeated Japan's Mai Hontama (WTA No. 120) 6-4, 6-2.

Vondrousova is a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the semifinals, she defeated Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, Kostiuk admitted that it was incredibly difficult for her to play against Russian tennis players after the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia. The first match against the representatives of the aggressor country took place in May 2022 and was very difficult for her.

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