Belarus’ Sabalenka waits for a handshake from Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at French Open, meets media

By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer

PARIS (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus has spoken at a postmatch news conference after beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina to reach the French Open semifinals for the first time. Sabalenka had skipped her media sessions after her previous two matches in Paris after saying she felt uncomfortable because of questions about Belarus, which aided Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Sabalenka waited at the net after her 6-4, 6-4 victory Tuesday even though Svitolina has said she would not shake hands with any opponent from Russia or Belarus. Sabalenka forgot and said she went to the net out of “instinct.” She will face Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.