The second racket of Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk, together with the Romanian tennis player Elena-Gabriela Ruse, won a difficult victory at the start of the doubles Roland Garros. In the first round, Kostyuk/Ruse defeated the Russian duet Anna Blinkova/Varvara Gracheva in three sets – 6:3, 3:6, 6:2.
After a confident first set, Kostyuk/Ruse relaxed, giving the game to the Russian athletes.
In the decisive set, the advantage was for Martha and Elena. They won the first five games in a row and could have won a clean sheet, but lost two match points.
After the meeting, Kostyuk refused to shake hands with her rivals. On the cropped video, you can see that at the moment when the Russians approach the net, Marta has already turned away and goes to the informant judge.
In the second round, the Ukrainian-Romanian duet will face Kirsten Flipkens/Shelby Rogers (Belgium/USA).
It should be noted that in the singles tournament of the French Open, Kostyuk was booed by the fans for not shaking hands with the Belarusian Arina Sobolenko after the defeat.
As GLOBAL HAPPENINGS reported, Anna Blinkova is the rival of Ukrainian Elina Svetolina in the third round of Roland Garros. Tennis players will play with each other in a week – in May, an Odessa player defeated a Muscovite in the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Strasbourg.
Source: Obozrevatel
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
