Rome, 20 Jan (LaPresse) – There was no handshake at the end of the match between Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and Russia's Veronika Kudermetova, won by Svitolina on the Melbourne courts of the Australian Open (6-4, 6-1 final result). The win sees Svitolina (world no. 27 in the WTA rankings) through to the quarter-finals. At the end of the match, the traditional gesture of fair play was not made, as announced on the giant screen on the court, which invited the public to ‘respect’ this choice. Svitolina then turned towards the camera, where she wrote the message ‘the spirit of Ukraine’ and drew a heart. In the other match of the women's round of 16, American Keys (number 14) beat Kazakhstan's Rybakina (number 7) in three sets (6-3, 1-6, 6-3).
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