In December, the world number 55 switched international allegiance to Austria and ‌posted about it on social media, with sharp-eyed fans ‌quickly spotting striking similarities to Kasatkina's announcement from when she began representing Australia.

In her post, Potapova said Austria was "a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place ⁠where I feel totally at home," the exact same wording ‌that Kasatkina used to describe Australia in March.

Kasatkina also ​addressed the parallels on X, posting: "No, we are not from same agency."

Asked about it at the Australian Open, Potapova told reporters: "Well, I don't find anything wrong with that because you cannot say it in a ‌better way.

"And why not? It was perfect words. I loved it. We loved it with my team, with everyone. So, yeah, we gave it a shot," she ⁠added, speaking after her 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens in the first round.

"I don't think that it's something terrible happened. I think the media just blew it up just because they didn't like me with the fact of it happening. I mean, who cares about posts, right?"

Potapova faces Briton Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, in the second round.

The 24-year-old had been playing on ⁠the WTA Tour as a neutral athlete ‌after Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing under their own flags following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

She is among a number of Russian-born tennis players to have changed their ⁠nationalities, including Kasatkina, Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan), Kamilla Rakhimova (Uzbekistan) and ​Polina Kudermetova (Uzbekistan).

[lslink-league cms-href="https://www.flashscore.com/match/tennis/lamens-suzan-Ojnpq17F/potapova-anastasia-x81l09qG/?mid=M7f7p6Hr" sport-id="2" tournament-template-id="0G3fKGYb" tournament-id="YqflMmDF" tournament-stage-id="MwxMXAUb" season-id="185" target="summary"]Follow the women's side in Melbourne here.[/lslink-league]