(Reuters) – Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina said she had received an outpouring of support from Americans following U.S. President Donald Trump’s extraordinary clash with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House last month.
Svitolina thanked Americans for their “unwavering support” and “compassion” in a social media post on Sunday after beating Danielle Collins in the third round of Indian Wells.
After defeating another local hope Jessica Pegula 5-7 6-1 6-2 on Tuesday, Svitolina told reporters she had received solid support at the tournament in the California desert.
“I feel like since that meeting in the Oval Office, I got a lot of messages of support from the American people and a lot of people here when I arrived at the tournament, giving love and support to Ukrainians for people back at home,” she added.
“Also the massive support that I got taking in consideration that I played three American girls back-to-back. It’s amazing, really special to get that, taking into consideration all the stress that all Ukrainians are facing right now back at home.”
The U.S. on Tuesday agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv said that it was ready to support Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
Svitolina next faces Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals at Indian Wells.
Ukrainian players have been boycotting the post-match tradition of shaking hands at the net when taking on opponents from Russia and Belarus, which is a staging ground for the invasion.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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