Daria Kasatkina highlighted the social media abuse she has received after becoming the first player to reach the semifinals of WTA Elite Trophy on Thursday. Furthermore, the sixth-seeded Kasatkina beat 11th-seeded Magda Linette 6-3, 6-4. She then posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying she won her match. But the abuse she gets on social media “is completely out of control.”
She included a screenshot of some of the hateful messages she had received. Kasatkina defeated top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova in her opening round-robin match of the second-tier playoff event’s Azalea group. Krejcikova and Linette have been eliminated. Third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko battled to defeat Donna Vekic 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in her first match in the Orchid group, eliminating the 10th-seeded Croatian. Also read: Rafael Nadal Announces Comeback at Australian Open 2024
The 12-player tournament is the women’s tour’s inaugural postseason event. It includes the top 11 singles players who failed not qualify for the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, next month. Zhu, placed 37th, is the final wild-card participant.
The participants are split into four groups of three, with the victor of each group progressing to the semifinals on Saturday. The championship game is set for Sunday. Also read: Just In: Karolina Muchova Withdraws from WTA Finals, Maria Sakkari replaces her
Ostapenko will next play Chinese player Zheng Qinwen, who beat Vekic in her first match, to decide who advances as group winner.
Later Thursday, fourth-seeded Liudmila Samsonova was to play her first match of the tournament against Chinese wild-card Zhu Lin.