Dayana Yastremska

Yastremska began playing low-level events on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2015. Her best result of the year was a semifinal loss to Markéta Vondroušová at a $10K event in Sharm El Sheikh. She won her first ITF title in March 2016 at the $25K event in Campinas, Brazil, where she came through qualifying and defeated No. 157 Alizé Lim in the final. A month and a half later, she made her WTA main draw debut at the İstanbul Cup at the age of 15.[16] As a wild card, she lost her opening round match to Nao Hibino.[17] A year later, Yastremska was awarded another wild card into the same tournament and defeated Andrea Petkovic for her first career WTA match win.[18] She made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Jana Čepelová despite having two chances to serve for the match.[19] Yastremska qualified for her only other WTA main draw of the year at the Nottingham Open, losing in the first round.[16] In September, Yastremska won an ITF $60K title at the Ladies Open Dunakeszi.[20] With this title, she rose from No. 272 to No. 202 in the world.[21] Later that month, she defeated top seed and world No. 46 Donna Vekic in the semifinals of the $100K Neva Cup before losing to Belinda Bencic in the final.[20] This runner-up finish brought her into the top 200 for the first time at No. 174.[21] Yastremska also had a strong season in doubles, winning three ITF titles, including the $80K Prague Open with Anastasia Potapova.[22]

Yastremska had a slow start to the 2018 season. She lost in the second round of qualifying at the Australian Open. After injuring her ankle at the Abierto Mexicano in February,[23] she did not enter any tournaments in March. With a ranking well outside of the top 100, she needed to enter qualifying at her first seven tournaments of the year, reaching three main draws.[16] At the last of these events, Yastremska produced her best result, finishing runner-up to Rebecca Peterson at the $100K Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer.[24] This result took her into the top 150 for the first time.[21] She also reached the $100K final at the Ilkley Trophy, losing to Tereza Smitková in a third-set tiebreak.[25] She did not enter the French Open and lost in the qualifying competition at Wimbledon.[16] During the second week of Wimbledon, Yastremska won the separate $60K Torneo Internazionale Femminile Antico Tiro a Volo in Rome. She defeated Potapova in the final in 45 minutes, only losing one game.[26] With this title, she made her debut in the top 100 at the age of 18.[21][27]

In the second half of the season, Yastremska had more success at the WTA level. She qualified for the Premier-level Connecticut Open, where she upset No. 36 Danielle Collins for her only main draw match win.[28] The following week, she made her Grand Slam main draw debut and was upset in her opening round match by qualifier Karolína Muchová.[29] Yastremska made her breakthrough on the WTA Tour in her last two tournaments of the year. In October, she won her maiden WTA title at the Hong Kong Tennis Open without dropping a set. She defeated three top 100 Chinese players in the event, including No. 40 Zhang Shuai and No. 24 Wang Qiang in the semifinals and final respectively.[30] The following week, she returned to Europe and reached another semifinal at the Luxembourg Open. She recorded her first career top 20 victory against No. 13 Garbiñe Muguruza before losing to Belinda Bencic in a third-set tiebreak.[31][32] With these two results, she rose from No. 110 at the start of the month to No. 58 by the end of the year.[21]

Yastremska continued to rise in the WTA rankings throughout the season, her first full year on the WTA Tour. After a quarterfinal appearance at the Hobart International, she won her first two Grand Slam main draw matches at the Australian Open before losing to Serena Williams in the third round.[33] At her next tournament, she won her second WTA title at the Hua Hin Championships in Thailand. She upset top seed Garbiñe Muguruza again in the quarterfinal, and then defeated Ajla Tomljanović in the final in a third-set tiebreak.[34] This title brought Yastremska to No. 34 in the world.[21] Following this title, however, she began to struggle and only tallied one match win in her next six tournaments in part due to playing through an ankle injury.[3][29] In late May, Yastremska recovered to win another title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. She upset No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals and then defeated No. 24 Caroline Garcia in another third-set tiebreak in a nearly three-hour match for the title.[35] While she lost her opening round match at the French Open to Carla Suárez Navarro,[36] she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, her best Grand Slam result to date. She upset No. 28 Sofia Kenin before losing to Zhang Shuai.[37][38]

In the second half of the season, Yastremska produced another good performance at a Grand Slam at the US Open, losing in the third round to compatriot and world No. 5 Elina Svitolina.[39] She then achieved her best Premier 5 result of the year, a quarterfinal at the Wuhan Open. During the event, Yastremska upset world No. 2 Karolína Plíšková before losing to No. 7 Petra Kvitová.[40] Her win over Plíšková was her first career top 10 victory.[41] Yastremska followed up this performance with her best doubles result of the year. She partnered with Jeļena Ostapenko at the Premier Mandatory China Open and won four matches to reach the final. They upset top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová in their second match before finishing runner-up to Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.[42][43] At the end of season, Yastremska unexpectedly qualified for the WTA Elite Trophy, the second-tier year-end championships, after several higher-ranked players withdrew from consideration. She was placed in a group with No. 20 Donna Vekić and No. 10 Kiki Bertens. After both her and Bertens defeated Vekić in their opening matches,[44] Yastremska lost to Bertens and did not advance out of her group.[45] She finished the season at a career-high of No. 22 in the world.[21]

Yastremska had a strong start to the 2020 season. She reached the final at the Premier-level Adelaide International. During the event, she defeated three top 20 players, including No. 12 Aryna Sabalenka, before finishing runner-up to world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who won the title in her home country.[46] In the Australian Open she beat Kaja Juvan in the first round before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in the second, the Dane's final tournament victory before her retirement.

Ukraine played their Fed Cup Group I tournament in Estonia, where Yastremska was victorious in all three of her singles matches. She then lost in the first round in Dubai to Veronika Kudermetova before falling to Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round in Doha. This was her last match before international tennis was suspended due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

International tennis resumed in Palermo in August, where Yastremska lost to Camila Giorgi in the singles quarter-finals. Moving to New York, she lost to Naomi Osaka in the third round of the relocated Cincinnati Premier5 tournament before falling to Madison Brengle in the second round of the US Open. Returning to Europe, she lost to Simona Halep in the third round of the Italian Open and, in a big upset, to Daria Gavrilova in the first round of the French Open.

First round losses in Ostrava and Linz completed a disappointing end to the season, one in which her only success in doubles was a win in the Fed Cup tie against Estonia. She lost in the first round of all six tournaments she played.

On 7 January 2021, the ITF announced that, in November 2020, Yastremska had tested positive for a metabolite of mesterolone, an anabolic steroid medication which is prohibited by WADA. The ITF announced that, as a result of testing positive for this banned substance, Yastremska shall be provisionally suspended, "pending determination of the charge against her at a full hearing".[47] That same day, Yastremska released a statement on Twitter, in which she denied the charges against her, asserting that she "[has] never used any performance-enhancing drugs or any prohibited substances", and that she believes the positive result to be as a result of scientific contamination. She further stated that she and her team are "resolutely determined to do everything to clear [her] name".[48] Despite the suspension, Yastremska travelled to Melbourne to participate in the Australian Open; she was on a flight on which a fellow passenger tested positive for COVID-19, meaning that she had to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel, which was paid for by Tennis Australia. Whilst in Melbourne, she applied for her suspension by the ITF to be lifted; this request was denied by an independent tribunal on 23 January.[49] Her appeal against a doping ban is being fast-tracked in order for her case to be resolved before the Australian Open, which begins on 8 February 2021.[50] The CAS said it will make a decision by 3 February 2021.[50] On that date, the CAS announced that it had dismissed her appeal, and that the provisional suspension enforced by the ITF on 7 January would be upheld until the ITF reached a final decision.[51] After the CAS released their statement, Yastremska acknowledged the provisional suspension, but said that she couldn't "express [her] disappointment about not being able to take part in the first Slam of the year" due to her suspension. She also stated that she is "confident" that she and her team will "prove [her] innocence". As she is unable to participate in any tournaments at Melbourne due to her suspension, Yastremska said that she will refund all costs of her flights, accommodation, and provisions during the mandatory 14-day quarantine to Tennis Australia. She vowed to "demonstrate my innocence, and clear my name".[52]