A Ukrainian tennis player wouldn’t play against a 16-year-old Russian rival in the midst of the continuous conflict in her country

Marta Kostyuk chose to pull out from her last match against Russian star Mirra Andreeva at the 2023 Negometal Open de Bourg-de-Peage competition.

The pair were set to meet in the women’s final of the exhibition event but the world No 39 pulled out just hours before the match was set to start on Sunday, December 17. 

Kostyuk had stepped in as a replacement for Donna Vekic, who had withdrawn from the event earlier in the week due to shoulder pain. 

But Kostyuk would also withdraw, with tournament organisers releasing a statement on Sunday night that read: ‘Due to reasons beyond our will and given the geopolitical context in Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk will not be able to compete in the final of the sixth edition of Negometal Open.’ 

Three players were booked to partake in the ladies’ competition, with Kostyuk set to assume the victor of Andreeva’s match against world No. 43 Varvara Gracheva. It was Andreeva who might book her position in the last.

With Kostyuk pulling out, competition coordinators had to track down another rival for the Russian, with 23-year-elderly people men’s player Yanis Ghazouani Durand, who is positioned No 1145 on the ATP Visit, stepping in to confront her.

We’ve done our bet to activate our network of professional players, but the time is unfortunately too short to find a replacement,’ organisers wrote on Facebook.  

Ghazouni would defeat Andreeva 7-5 6-2, with Andreeva, who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year, being presented with the tournament trophy despite the defeat.