When Emma Raducanu next takes to the court in Romania, standing across from her will be a player who not only displays her personality through her style of play on the court, but on her face, too.
Raducanu has booked her place in the Transylvania Open semi-finals after sweeping past Maja Chwalinska in straight sets on Centre Court on Thursday, and will now face Oleksandra Oliynykova following her newfound fame.
Oliynykova, 25, recently hit the headlines for a multitude of reasons. For her background, for her impressive grand slam debut at the Australian Open, and now, famously, because of a smattering of small temporary facial tattoos.
While hitting the court for her first-ever main draw match in Melbourne, fans spotted that Oliynykova was sporting small flower tattoos on her face, and her name suddenly flooded X ‘for you’ pages across the tennis community.
Now in Romania, she has switched up the tattoos. She is known to change the vibe of the stickers based on the location she is playing in, and Transylvania is associated with both vampires and bats.
So, when Raducanu greets the Ukrainian at the net, she will see tiny bats spread across her cheeks.
Emma Raducanu beat Maja Chwalinska 6-0 6-4 to secure a spot in the Transylvania Open semi-finals
She will face inspiring star Oleksandra Oliynykova who has gone viral for her face ‘tattoos’
But Oliynykova is much more than the tattoos that brought her into the limelight.
She had an incredibly tough upbringing: she fled her homeland, only to return to the war-ravaged country, and has overcome gargantuan obstacles to become a top 100 player in the world.
Living in Ukraine during a full-scale invasion from Russia led to incredibly difficult preparation for the Australian Open last month. Missiles led to a lack of electricity and water in her home just weeks before the competition.
She revealed: ‘A drone hit the home across the road. My apartment was literally shaking because of the explosion.’
Despite the odds being stacked against her, Oliynykova made it to Melbourne and the main draw, which was a win in itself. She then proceeded to make a name for herself on the big stage, despite falling to defeat against Madison Keys.
The 25-year-old flirted with a stunning shock, flying into a 4-0 lead in the first set, but she ran out of gas in the Australian heat and succumbed 7-6(8-6) 6-1 to the American in the end.
But the performance earned Oliynykova plenty of fans and a pretty penny, too. She took home a massive A$150,000 (£75,757) for her appearance in the first round.
After the contest, Olinykova used her press conference to call for Russian and Belarusian players – who currently compete on the tour under a neutral flag – to receive an outright ban.
The world No 91 sported little flowers scattered across her face as she made her Grand Slam debut in Melbourne last month
‘I know that here is the picture that we are all tennis girls playing, but the people don’t see the things behind it,’ Oliynikova said. ‘The people with money and power, they are using this to support aggression against my country.
‘They are the reason, the people who have the power to speak up – they are not doing this.’
The world No 91 is currently enjoying a career-high ranking inside the top 100, after picking up three titles in WTA 125 tournaments – the top tour’s lowest-ranked competitions behind 1000s, 500s, and 250s – in 2025.
She is now rattling off the brilliant displays in Romania, beating the fourth seed Wang Xinyu to set up a tussle with the favourite, Raducanu.
The British star breezed past Chwalinska 6-0 6-4 to continue her fine form since a recent split with former coach Francisco Roig.
On January 29, Raducanu announced that she was parting ways with Roig – eight days after a tame Australian Open second-round exit to Anastasia Potapova.