Elina Svitolina Wins WTA250 Title in Rouen; Odesa Sports Highlights

Elina Svitolina 's victorious tournament , a duel between famous Odesa saber fighters, a destroyed ice arena in Kherson, and a Chornomorets match on Easter - in the digest of sports events from the South of Ukraine by Intent.

Tennis. Elina Svitolina is the champion of the WTA250 tournament in Rouen

Elina Svitolina. Photo: WTA

• At the WTA250 tournament in Rouen, France, Elina Svitolina, the 18th ranked player in the world, received the status of the first seed. This is due to the fact that most of her rivals played at the tournament in Stuttgart. However, the first seed does not guarantee victory in the tournament - she has to overcome five opponents.
• <span>In the last eight of the final, Elina's opponent was the second Ukrainian in the tournament, Angelina Kalinina from Kakhovka . The athlete from Odesa proved to be stronger in two sets. </span>
• <span>After two more confident victories, Elina reached the final, where she faced Serbian Olga Danilovic. The opponent proved to be very strong and unyielding, in particular, in the second set she played four match points, but in the end, in a grueling tiebreak, it was Svitolina who won the second set, the match and the tournament.</span>

• For the Ukrainian, this is the eighteenth tournament she has won in her career, and the first since 2023, when Elina also conquered the clay courts, also in France - in Strasbourg.

Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils. Photo: Avantage Tennis.

• Elina was also congratulated on her victory by her husband, French tennis legend Gael Monfils, who supported his wife in the stands.

Tennis. Yastremska's injury and Tsurenko's court

Diana Yastremska and Jelena Ostapenko. Photo: jimmie48

• <span>At the above-mentioned tournament in Stuttgart, health problems did not allow Diana Yastremska to show her best . In singles, she was forced to withdraw from the first round match against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, and in doubles, along with the same Ostapenko, although she found the strength to take to the court, she lost in the quarterfinals - Diana 's incomplete readiness was evident in the decisive tiebreak. </span>

• One of the leading Ukrainian tennis players, Lesia Tsurenko, announced her intention to sue the WTA. According to the athlete, she had to endure moral abuse, harassment and persecution by the association's management.
• This week, Lesia also received some good news. On the eve of Easter, a massive prisoner exchange took place. One of Tsurenko's relatives was among the 277 Ukrainians who returned home.

Image: from Lesia Tsurenko's Instagram story

Games and results

Veres vs. Chornomorets match. Photo: FC Chornomorets

• "Chornomorets lost again in the match of Round 25, this time in Rivne against Veres. Odesa opened the scoring with a goal by Denys Yanakov, and generally had the upper hand in the first half. However, at the beginning of the second half, Stepaniuk equalized, and in the 61st minute, Rivne took the lead after a spectacular goal by Dakhnovsky. In general, the substitution of Yaroslav Rakitsky at half-time destabilized the Pirates' defense, which was taken advantage of by the team from Volyn. Odesa has 18 points left and only 5 rounds to leave the relegation zone.

UPL table. Screenshot: flashscore.ua

• The week was also difficult for the women's team from Odesa. " The Seasters played two of the main contenders for the gold medal in the Ukrainian championship - Vorskla and Kolos. In both matches, the opponents decimated the Major League debutants - a total of 8 unanswered goals. It looks like the fight for medals will be postponed to the next season.

Major league table. Screenshot: womensfootball.com.ua

"Kyiv-Basket vs Interchem. Photo: fbu.ua

• "Interchem-SDUSSHOR has started a semifinal series in the Women's Basketball Super League. The Odesa team exchanged away victories with Kyiv-Basket. In the second game, Ksenia Pankina (21 points) and Yulia Musienko (10 points, 10 assists and 7 steals) stood out for Interchem. The decisive game of the series will take place on Tuesday in Odesa.

• The first stage of the Women's Handball Super League is over. Mykolaiv's Real lost twice to Karpaty and will compete in the second stage in the group for 4th-6th places to move up from the last place.

Events of the week

The destroyed Favorit Arena in Kherson. Photo: Oleksandr Kornyakov

• The Russian armed forces have destroyed another sports infrastructure facility. The Favorit Arena ice rink inKherson has suffered devastating damage. Before the full-scale invasion, it was the home arena of the local Dnipro team.

Ukrainian and Romanian futsal players. Screenshot: Setanta Sports.

• The UEFA has banned the Ukrainian and Romanian national teams from observing a minute of silence in memory of the victims of Russian strikes. However, the players of the Romanian national team showed humanity and, by mutual agreement, started the match with a minute of silence unofficially.

Alina Komaschuk against Elena Kravatska. Photo: Dmytro Putintsev

• Two women from Odesa, two Olympic champions, <b>Alina Komashchuk and Olena Kravatska</b>, faced off in the final of the Ukrainian sabre fencing championship. Alina won the championship for the first time in her career. Oleksandra Bondar from Mykolaiv took third place in the competition . In the team competition, the star Odessans were also unrivaled.

Taisiia Onofriichuk. Photo: Maria Muzychenko

• <b>Taisiia Onofriichuk</b> won 4 more awards at the World Cup in rhythmic gymnastics. The 16-year-old Ukrainian won the hoop competition, was second with the ball and ribbon, and third with clubs. By the way, Taisiia had to refuse to take part in the awards ceremony in order not to be in the shot with the Russian and Belarusian women who were allowed to compete.

The shot of the week

<i>Photo: FC Veres</i>

• "Veres and Chornomorets played on Easter. So, instead of flipping a coin before the game, they decided to draw in a more creative way. Odesa's egg turned out to be stronger and they got the right to choose the ball or the goal.

Traditionally, we wish you and your favorite athletes and teams good luck!

Адлен Муатс