Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk defeated Briton Harriet Dart in two sets (2:0) and reached the third round of the US Open tournament, Suspilne. Sport” on Thursday.
In the first round of the competition, Kostiuk defeated American McCartney Kesser in two sets (6-2, 6-3) and reached the 1/32 finals of the US Open. The next opponent of the first Ukrainian racket was the British Harriet Dart, whom Marta had met twice before and defeated twice.
In the first set, Kostiuk lost the opening two games on her serve, making only one break in response. Dart’s advantage lasted until the tenth game, but Kostyuk managed to take the first set to a tiebreaker. Kostyuk won a break on Dart’s serve, and despite losing the next game on her own serve, she broke back to make the score 6-6.
In the tiebreaker, Kostyuk played five set points at once, three of which were at 3:6. And in the end, she took the game, realizing the third set point.
Kostyuk finished the second set with a crushing victory – 6:1. The Ukrainian gave away only one game at the very start of the game, after which she took six in a row, although only on the fourth attempt did she realize a match point.
US Open-2024. Second round: Harriet Dart (Great Britain) – Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) – 0: 2 (6: 7 (10), 1: 6)
Marta Kostiuk’s opponent in the third round of the competition will be determined in a match between the Dutch player Aranci Rous and the 12th world number one, American Emma Navarro.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has chosen Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina as the second ambassador of the UNITED 24 national brand, the President’s Office of Ukraine reported.
Svitolina’s presentation by the second ambassador of the UNITED24 fundraising platform took place during an online meeting with the head of state, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov and platform coordinator Yaroslav Hres, the press service of the President’s Office said Tuesday evening.
In addition, the first UNITED 24 ambassador Andriy Shevchenko joined the videoconference, together with whom Svitolina will continue to unite the world sports community around helping Ukraine.
The President thanked Svitolina for the active position that the athlete has taken since the first days of the war, and noted that it is important to talk about Ukraine in the world.
The President’s Office also stressed that at the end of July, a charity game of the first racket of the world Iga Świątek is planned under the patronage of Svitolina.
During the first four weeks of the UNITED 24 fundraising platform, more than $52.5 million was raised for the needs of Ukraine.
As reported, on May 18, Zelensky signed a decree on the establishment of the UNITED 24 national brand and congratulated the first ambassador of this brand – the legendary Ukrainian football player and coach Andriy Shevchenko.
On June 7, the Ministry of Youth and Sports opened a special account in the National Bank of Ukraine for donations within the framework of the UNITED24 Restoration Fund initiative.
Ukraine’s largest platform for table tennis development, the Setka Cup, has opened its first location in the European Union (EU). A new arena began to operate in Prague, the Czech Republic.
The international platform Setka Cup increased the number of table tennis arenas to 12 and reached 6,500 matches per month. Setka Cup tournaments are broadcast to 150 countries. All games are dynamic and last up to 30 minutes on average and are supported by live analytics. The total area of arenas in Prague, Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv is 3,487 sq. meters.
“Three years of intensive work in Ukraine provided us with the experience and potential to organize tournaments and support sport on an international level. Besides that, we constantly get inquiries from foreign sports communities about the Setka Cup brand’s presence in other countries. We’ve chosen the Czech Republic to start with because of the local table tennis community’s considerable interest. Still, we plan to continue to develop our platform on an international level”, Setka Cup tournaments organizers said.
The eponymous location in Prague will hold 4 table tennis tournaments every day. The participants are local players. The room’s infrastructure meets the up-to-date European standards, including professional lighting, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, comfortable conditions for the training and rest of athletes. Tournament organizers comply with local quarantine measures.
“The health of Setka Cup tournament players is our responsibility. We set up special rules for our players: our athletes don’t play more than three days in a row and can’t participate in more than one tournament per day. And, of course, we comply with quarantine measures,” Setka Cup organizers added.
“The opening of a location in Europe is a significant step for Setka Cup. It’s a new level, an increase in the number of arenas, more table tennis players. Also, it brings new opportunities for players, their professional development and experience sharing.”
Setka Cup is an international sports platform. Since 2018 Setka Cup organizes open non-commercial and commercial tournaments and supports tennis and table tennis development.
The platform created unique media channels, including Setka Cup TV, which cover sporting and educational events of table tennis. Setka Cup tournaments are famous in 150 countries.
Setka Cup:
https://www.facebook.com/setkacup
http://bit.ly/SETKACUP_YouTube
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina has lost to American Serena Williams in the U.S. Open semi-final and left the competition, the organization said on its Twitter account.
American tennis player Williams beat Svitolina in two sets with a score of 6:3, 6:1. The meeting lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. Williams won the 101st match at the U.S. Open and repeated the record of her compatriot Chris Evert.
Williams will play with Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the U.S. Open final.
