Marta Kostyuk is through to the biggest final of her career after beating lucky loser Anastasia Potapova 6-2 1-6 6-1 in a rollercoaster match at the Madrid Open. But the Ukrainian star did not shake hands with Potapova at the end of the match, and made her feelings on this clear before taking to the court.
Potapova was born in Russia and represented her country until Russian tennis players were made neutral athletes by the ATP and WTA in 2022. At the end of last year, she announced she had switched allegiances to Austria and has since played under the Austrian flag. But ahead of their Madrid semi-final, Kostyuk said she still wouldn’t shake hands with the Russian-born player.
“Well, the only person that I shake hands with is Daria Kasatkina, because she didn’t just change her passport, she also openly said that she doesn’t support the war, you know, and all of that stuff,” the world No. 23 explained, referencing Russian-born Kasatkina – who has openly condemned the war in Ukraine and, last year, switched her nationality to represent Australia.
“So this is why me and like other girls made the decision to shake hands with her, purely out of respect. In this case, I mean, there have been multiple players who have changed their nationality, but none of them ever voiced anything against war or, you know, anything to support Ukrainians or whatever. So for me, that doesn’t change.”
And Kostyuk’s stance won’t change when she faces Russian tennis star Mirra Andreeva in Saturday’s final. In December 2023, she withdrew from an exhibition tournament before she was due to face Andreeva in the final.
This will be their second meeting on the official WTA Tour. Kostyuk beat the teenager in straight sets in the Brisbane quarter-finals earlier this year. The Ukrainian reached the final in Brisbane and lost to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
The world No. 23 is still looking forward to the challenge of facing Andreeva on clay. Both women have already lifted trophies on the surface this year, with Kostyuk winning in Rouen, while Andreeva was crowned the Linz champion.
“We’ve played in Brisbane, and I think it’s entirely different court and everything. We had really difficult match. But I’m excited for the final, because it’s a final, at the end of the day,” Kostyuk said after reaching a WTA 1000 final for the first time in her career.
“She’s very solid player, very hard hitter, more like she has very big serve. So, you know, I’m excited for that. I don’t know, it’s really different conditions.”