Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska received a “wild card” from the organizers of the prestigious tennis tournament WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open. The hosts invited the 21-year-old Dayana Yastremska after Camila Giorgi withdrew. This allowed Naomi Osaka, who previously received a “wild card”, to enter directly into the main scheme, and her special invitation went to the Ukrainian player.
Odessa-born Dayana Yastremska will play in WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open for the third time in her career. In her debut in 2019, she dropped out at the start, and in 2020 qualified for the second round.
Dayana Yastremska will face Caroline Garcia (France) in the first round of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open.
In addition to Dayana Yastremska, three other Ukrainians will take part in the main draw of the tournament – Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, and Anhelina Kalinina, and Lesia Tsurenko – in the qualifiers. The tournament in Indian Wells will be held from March 9 to 20.
On Sunday, Dayana Yastremska entered the battle for the title in WTA 250 Lyon Open, but lost to China’s Zhang Shuai with 1-2 (6:3, 3:6, 4:6). For the Ukrainian, this was the first final in two years, but the participation in the final match brought her a lot of emotions given the military actions in her homeland. In France, she said that before fleeing from her homeland by boat through Romania, she spent two nights in an underground car park to protect against air attacks. Dayana Yastremska will donate the entire Lyon prize to those in need in Ukraine.Caroline Garcia