Lesia Tsurenko speaks on 'very special' ties to Italy after Rome victory

Like many of her peers on the ATP and WTA tours, Lesia Tsurenko loves indulging in Italy's most famous culinary offerings when she competes at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. But, as the 34-year-old from Kyiv revealed Wednesday after her first-round win at the tournament, her overall affinity for Italy runs even deeper than her favorite mozzarella, burrata and pasta.

"I don't want to say that it's my home country, because I'm Ukrainian and Ukraine is one and only for me, but this country is very special for me," Tsurenko told Prakash Amritraj after beating Donna Vekic 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the first round of the WTA1000 event.

Tsurenko's ties to the country date back more than a decade, when she won herself fans by earning both points in underdog Ukraine's eventual 3-2 loss to 2009 and 2010 champions Italy in the 2012 Billie Jean King Cup; she dropped four games in four sets against Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani (though the latter retired trailing 6-1, 3-0). Then, an Italian coach, Adriano Albanesi, helped guide her to some of the best results of her career, including a quarterfinal berth at the 2018 US Open and her best ranking of No. 23.

Now, with the war in her native land raging for more than two years, Tsurenko is earnestly grateful for the sanctuary her body, and racing mind, found in the country, and her training base at the Piatti Tennis Center.

"I enjoy every second," Tsurenko reflected. "I enjoy my beautiful morning coffee and the view that I have in Liguira, where I live, and it's just amazing to have this feeling and be able to relax and calm down."

That calm spirit served her well to earn a two-hour, 39-minute win against Vekic, against whom she's now 3-1 all-time (and has won three straight). From 4-1 up in the final set, Tsurenko needed to stave off another comeback by the Croatian in a final-set tiebreak, where she was 6-2 ahead. Despite breaking serve three times in the match, Tsurenko was effusive in praising one of Vekic's chief weapons.

"I'm so jealous of the serve that Donna has! She's serving unbelievably good, and it's so tough because you don't have a rhythm to play against someone like her," Tsurenko, whose own serve has diminished over the course of her career due to a lingering right elbow problem, said.

"Plus, you always have this pressure of her serve and her full power return. When she's going for a winner you know it's going to be a full-power winner. With players like that, you always have to stay agressive and kind of have to hit first, and also get back everything that you can and be defensive when necessary.

"We've played a few matches against each other before and it always went to tiebreaks, or a deciding set. She's a super tough opponent."

Tsurenko's win sets up a second round against another Ukrainian who has a special place in her heart for Italy: 2023 Rome finalist Anhelina Kalinina, this year's No. 30 seed.

Hoping to match her best-ever result in Rome with a win, Tsurenko might look for a little extra inspiration from other things she's come to love about her home-away-from-home.

"This tournament, if you look around, you'll see trees and statues, and I think just everything makes this tournament so special," Tsurenko said. "All the players enjoy food, and all of the players enjoy touristic [sic] mode because all of the hotels are in the center of the city ... and you can enjoy the time off [from] the tournament.

"That, I think, is another secret, and the pizza, pasta, mozarella, burrata, for sure!"