Elina Svitolina says ”Ukranian flag really helped me” as she reaches the quarter-finals in Mexico

Elina Svitolina said the ”Ukranian flag helped her” to come from behind as she beat Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova to reach the quarter-finals at the Monterrey Open.

Elina Svitolina, the number one seed in the competition, wrapped up the victory in 2 hours and 24 minutes to set up a quarter-final against fifth seed Camila Osorio. The 2020 Monterrey Champion had to come from 2-0 down in the final set to win the contest.

After the match, she claimed that her countries flag was the catalyst for the comeback, “It was an extremely tough first set, second set didn’t go my way, and then the third set I was 0-2 down. I was not playing my best, but I was fighting, until the very end. And you know, the Ukrainian flag [in the crowd] really helped me today to fight… I was really fighting until the end, and I found my game in the end.”

However, Elina Svitolina was not the only Ukrainian player to experience reaching the quarter-finals of a WTA tournament on Wednesday. Former World number 21 Dayana Yastremska moved on to the quarter-finals of the Lyon Open after beating Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa 6-2 6-3.

Following the match she stated that she is finding the tournament ”very emotional” and added, “I’m still very nervous because I really want to win the matches for my country. I’m very happy that I’m here, that I’m in a safe place with my sister, and I’m happy to do the thing that I love, playing tennis. Every point that I’m playing here, I’m enjoying a lot, and especially with the situation that we have now, I’m enjoying it like a thousand times more. This is another victory for me and another victory for my country.”

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