Once banned for doping: Grand Slam champion is sensationally eliminated during the qualifying match

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Ukrainian qualifying player Dajana Jastremska surprisingly qualified for the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old won in the round of 16 against two-time winner Viktoria Asarenka 7:6 (8:6), 6:4. She knocked Marketa Vondrousova, a Grand Slam winner, out of the tournament in the first round.

More than three years ago, the world number 93 was banned after a positive doping test in November 2020. Jastremska discovered the substance mesterolone, which, among other things, strengthens physical strength. However, six months later her ban was lifted because neither negligence nor intent could be proven.

Back forces Svitolina to give up

Jastremska, whose best Grand Slam result so far was a round of 16 at Wimbledon, is the second Ukrainian in the quarter-finals after Marta Kostjuk (21, WTA 37). It could even have been a third, but Elina Switolina (29) is stopped by a blocked back. “My back was completely blocked,” she says after her task. “I have never felt such a stabbing pain, it felt like someone had shot me in the back.”

Tournament number 19 and conqueror of the last Swiss woman, Viktorija Golubic, had to give up after three games and twenty minutes of play against Linda Noskova (WTA 50). The 19-year-old Czech now faces Jastremska in a duel between two unseeded outsiders. (SDA/che)

Source : Blick