Even before tennis’s best players complete their preparations for the year’s first Grand Slam, Dayana Yastremska is already fighting for her survival in the tournament. The 23-year-old battled through three tough three-set matches against weaker opponents in the Australian Open’s three qualifying rounds. When she entered the main draw, she was far from her best.
But sometimes in tennis, survival is all that matters. After a stressful qualifier, Yastremska showed complete freedom against bigger opponents. On Wednesday, she continued her breakthrough with another display of fearless attacking tennis, defeating Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open.
In the top half of the draw, a golden opportunity awaits Yastremska or No. 12 seed Zheng Qinwen, who will compete for a spot in the final. That night, Zheng Zhi remained calm in a difficult first set and then defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-1 to reach the Grand Slam semifinals for the first time.
Ten years after Li Na became the first Asian to win the Australian Open, it was the most inspiring moment of Zheng Zhi’s childhood and the Chinese player will emulate her in the year Li Na returns to Melbourne for the first time since her retirement. hero. Year. Zheng will also be among the top ten.
Eight wins later, Yastremska became the first qualifier in 46 years to reach the Australian Open semifinals. Only once in the history of professional tennis has a qualifier won a singles Grand Slam title – Yastremska is now just two wins away from Emma Raducanu’s 2021 US Open title.
A relentless attacker who takes to the fences whenever possible, Yastremska was a threat from the first round as she defeated Wimbledon 6-2, 6-1 Champion, seventh seed Marketa Vondrousova. After defeating in-form No. 26 seed Emma Navarro, she defeated No. 19 seed and two-time champion Victoria Azarenka.
Once one of the most promising young players, Yastremska’s performance also marks the first time she has tested positive for a metabolite of mesterol, an anabolic steroid drug derived from testosterone, in January 2021. Significant progress was made for the first time. Yastremska denied knowingly taking the substance. She was immediately served with a temporary restraining order ahead of the hearing.
Despite this status, Yastremska chose to fly to Australia during the 2021 tournament, where players must quarantine for two weeks in addition to training time. After two weeks in the hotel room, Yastremska learned that her emergency request to lift the temporary restraining order had been denied. Ukrainians were forced to travel long distances home.
In June 2021, six months after her provisional suspension began, the ITF announced that Yastremska had been cleared of doping charges, determining that she had been cleared of fault or negligence. According to written reasons before the independent tribunal, a heavily redacted document, Yastremska successfully argued that in the hours before her anti-doping test, her then-boyfriend had passed on her through “kissing” and other Infected with metestosterone through edited activity.
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The Telegraph was forced to issue an apology to Yastremska and her father Oleksandr Yastremskyy in June 2022 after publishing an article a month earlier titled “Dayana Yastremska accused of trying to cover up doping allegations”.
She was already ranked in the top 30 when she was temporarily suspended for six months, and returning to the sport and rebuilding her ranking proved extremely difficult. Yastremska quickly dropped out of the top 100, and last year her ranking fell to her lowest ranking since the ban: 158.
“I’ve been in a lot of difficult situations and I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Yastremska said Wednesday. “Maybe some other time I can explain it and the story will sound completely different. But right now all I can say is, I just, I don’t know, I relaxed. I don’t have much to say. Just relaxed and I tried to enjoy what I was doing thing.”
Yastremska’s efforts in Melbourne this week suggest she will be back in the top 30 after the best two weeks of her career. On Thursday, however, both she and Zheng will be playing more games.
