French Open in tennis: Russian Andrejewa defeats Ukrainian Kostyuk in the semi-finals

At the end of the match, Kostyuk, as expected, refrained from shaking hands with Andreyeva at the net. Ukrainian tennis professionals want to send a signal of protest against the Russian war of aggression in their homeland.

Kostyuk shows nerves

Andrejeva, seeded number eight and coached by former Spanish top player Conchita Martínez, once again put in a strong performance and is the favorite in the final on Saturday. The second semi-final will then take place on Court Philippe Chatrier between the Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska and the Russian Diana Schnaider.

In contrast to Andreeva, Kostyuk showed nerves in her first Grand Slam semi-final. The 23-year-old lost a match for the first time after 16 wins on the tour because she made a total of 34 unforced errors. Apparently she also had problems with the wind before the roof was closed. The audience was mostly on the side of the Ukrainian, but even this support didn’t help much.

After her opening match in Paris, Kostjuk made it public that a rocket had destroyed a building a hundred meters from her parents’ house. At the press conference she also showed a picture on her cell phone that was supposed to show the destruction. Kostyuk said she tries whenever possible to “remind people of the horrors of people’s everyday lives” in their homeland.

The last time this happened was 49 years ago in Paris

The men’s semifinals take place on Friday. Hamburg’s Alexander Zverev meets Czech Jakub Mensik in the first match. The Italians Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi will then decide on the second finalist.

It is clear that there will be a new Grand Slam champion for both women and men. The last time it happened 49 years ago was that there were no previous Grand Slam champions in the semi-finals of both competitions in Paris.