WORLD No.93 DAYANA: I’M ON A MISSION FOR UKRAINE

UKRAINIAN Dayana Yastremska said she is on a “mission” for her embattled homeland after storming within two wins of emulating Emma Raducanu.

The 23-year-old

(right) became only the second qualifier to reach the last four of the Australian Open in the Open era by beating Czech teenager Linda

Noskova 6-3 6-4.

Yastremska, who wore a blue and yellow dress, then wrote on a courtside TV camera:

“I’m proud of our fighting people from Ukraine”.

Her fellow Ukrainians Elina Svitolina

and

Marta Kostyuk also used their runs into the second week here to draw media attention back to their war-ravaged country nearly two years after the Russian invasion.

And the world No.93 now wants to continue her tennis campaign Down Under when she takes on China’s Qinwen Zheng (right) in the second semi-final today.

“It was about the Ukrainian fighters, and I’m very proud of them,” she said about her message written in Ukrainian.

“They really deserve huge respect. I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine.

It’s my mission here. If I do well – it’s tough to express. I’m just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I’m really proud of it.”

Her vow came as fellow Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar, 16, yesterday said she was “deeply sorry” after shaking hands with her Russian opponent after her first-round defeat in the juniors.

Ukrainian players have made the protest against Russian and Belarusian players since the start of the war.

The Ukrainian Tennis Federation described the moment as an “unpleasant incident”, while her father Konstantin Kotliar released a statement saying: “It was definitely a mistake that Liza regrets and assures us that she will never allow anything like that to happen again.”

Yastremska, who beat Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round, said: “Ukrainians, we have our position. I’m sure that she stands by Ukraine, and I’m sure that she just got too emotional and confused.”

Odessa-born Yastremska is only the fifth female qualifier in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam semi-final and only the second here after Christine Dorey in 1978.

Raducanu, then 18 and ranked world No.150, won 10 matches without dropping a set when she won the 2021 US Open title.

Yastremska said: “It’s nice to make history.

“It’s something new for me and for my generation because the last time it happened it was a long time ago. I wasn’t born yet. It’s nice. I’m really happy to be in my first semi-finals.”