PARIS — Marta Kostyuk dedicated her first-round win at Roland Garros to her home country of Ukraine, saying her parents’ house was nearly hit by a missile earlier in the day.
The Kyiv native beat Oksana Selekhmeteva, who was born in Russia but obtained Spanish nationality four days ago, 6-2, 6-3, to get her campaign in Paris off to a strong start.
“I’m incredibly proud of myself today, I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my life,” 15th seed Kostyuk said on court.
“This morning, 100 metres from my parents’ house, a missile fell.
“I’m obviously very happy to be in the second round,” she added according to AFP.
It was a 12th consecutive victory on clay for Madrid Open winner Kostyuk.
Her next opponent will either be American Katie Volynets or France’s Clara Burel
