First ITF title for refugee Olynykova

Remember Oleksandra Oliynykova, the young Ukrainian who fled to Croatia with her family as political refugees? After his business went bankrupt, her father set up a website, to crowdfund her career.

Months later, the site went inactive. There was a lot of trolling.

Motivated by the haters, Oliynynova won her first career ITF title last week in Greece.

She has picked up three sponsors, too.

Now 17, her big challenge will be overcoming the circuit changes.

Oliynykova’s hard-earned WTA ranking of No. 848 will be totally wiped out with the new rules, which discard results at the $15,000 level.

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Stephanie Myles

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