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Dayana Yastremska evoked memories of Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary US Open triumph by becoming the first qualifier to reach the Australian Open semi-finals since 1978.
Having arrived in Melbourne as the world No 93, Yastremska struggled through her three qualifying matches, which required a deciding set on each occasion. But since reaching the main draw, she has accelerated with each successive round. On Wednesday, she was a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 winner over Linda Noskova in the day’s first quarter-final.
“It’s nice to make history,” Yastremska told reporters after the match. “It’s something new for me and for my generation because the last time it happened it was a long time ago. I wasn’t born yet.”
At 23, Yastremska is enjoying her second coming as a player. She was nominated for the WTA Newcomer of the Year award in 2019, after winning two titles and climbing inside the world’s top 25. But she then dropped off the tour for the first half of 2021 after a positive dope test drew a provisional suspension. She was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I had a lot of difficult situations, and I don’t want to talk about it right now,” said Yastremska, a big hitter who made little impact on the tour in either 2022 or 2023. “Maybe some other time I can explain it. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, responsibility. But for now I can say that I relaxed, and I try to enjoy what I’m doing.”
Some of that responsibility is connected with Yastremska’s nationality. She comes from Odessa, the same Ukrainian city that produced last year’s Wimbledon sensation Elina Svitolina.
As it happened, Yastremska defeated Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka here on Monday – an echo of Svitolina’s victory over the same opponent at the identical stage of Wimbledon.
The occasion did not feel as politicised this time, perhaps because of the 9,000 miles which separate Melbourne from the war in Ukraine. Again, though, some fans were bemused by the lack of a post-match handshake.
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On Wednesday, Yastremska came up against Noskova, a 17-year-old Czech prodigy, so there was no such subtext. Afterwards, though, she paid tribute to her compatriots via a message written on the camera lens.
“It was about the Ukrainian fighters, that I’m very proud of them,” she explained afterwards. “They really deserve a huge respect. I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine. I think it’s my mission here. I’m just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I’m really proud of it.”
To return to the Raducanu link, Yastremska is the fifth female qualifier to reach a major semi-final in the Open era, and the second to do so in Australia after Christine Dorey in 1978. There have been three instances since the turn of the century, including Raducanu, who broke all records – and the internet – when she won the 2021 US Open.
