The drama isn’t waiting for the main draw of the U.S. Open.
Two former top players — Eugenie Bouchard and Dayana Yastremska — had a tense finish to their U.S. Open qualifying match on Thursday, which Yastremska won in three sets.
After the final point of the 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory, Yastremska bolted right to her chair instead of shaking Bouchard’s hand at the net and included an icy stare for the Canadian.
It is likely connected to the pair’s previous encounter.
Bouchard, 29, beat Yastremska, 23, at the Madrid Open in April and celebrated the victory in a since-deleted tweet.
“There’s something about playing dopers in Madrid,” Bouchard wrote with a photo of her celebrating the victory.
Yastremska, once ranked as high as No. 21 in the world, was put on provisional suspension in January 2021 after the ITF said she tested positive for mesterelone, an anabolic steroid medication.
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Yastremska denied the allegations and the ban was lifted in June when the ITF ruled the Ukrainian “bore no fault or negligence” for the positive result.
Bouchard would later apologize for the tweet, but the bad blood is still simmering.
“I want to apologize for my tweet,” Bouchard wrote at the time.
“It was a lapse in judgment, and unnecessary. Though I’ve always championed fair play, I didn’t have all my facts in order and certainly didn’t mean to cause harm. I’m going to continue to work on myself going forward, both on and off the court.”
Both Bouchard and Yastremska are searching for the form that at differing points had them tabbed for the top of the women’s sport, which is why they found themselves playing on the Grandstand on a dreary Thursday morning in Flushing.
Bouchard has dealt with numerous injuries — most recently missing 17 months after shoulder surgery — since bolting onto the scene in 2014 by reaching the Wimbledon finals.
Yastremska now moves a step closer to the main draw, needing a win Friday over Elena Gabriela Ruse to qualify for the season’s final Grand Slam.
