Kostyuk stuns – Marta Kostyuk overpowered four-time champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 to reach the French Open quarterfinals, setting up an all-Ukrainian semifinal with Elina Svitolina after Svitolina beat Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.
PARIS — For the first time in this French Open, the matchup that mattered arrived with a date attached: Iga Swiatek’s birthday.
By the time Marta Kostyuk sealed a 7-5, 6-1 victory over the four-time champion, the day belonged to someone else. Kostyuk, the 15th seed, reached the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time on Sunday by taking out a player who had won the title four times and still felt untouchable on this stage.
Her reward is an all-Ukrainian semifinal. Kostyuk will face her compatriot Elina Svitolina after Svitolina rallied past Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, ensuring there will be an Ukrainian woman semifinalist at Roland Garros for the first time in the professional era (1968).
Svitolina did not dress it up. “There’s going to be Ukraine in the semifinals, so it’s already amazing,” she said. Her country has been in a 4-year-old war with Russia, and she connected the moment to something bigger than sport. “I think it couldn’t be a better, amazing achievement for Ukrainian tennis. I think in such a difficult situation right now in the war. with the invasion. it’s really. really difficult. and I think it’s really inspiring for the next generation to really believe that it is possible one day to play on this court and win.”.
Kostyuk’s run is built on clay strength. but the shock still came with the kind of final scoreline that makes people pause. She had lost her three previous matches against Swiatek and never taken a set against the former top-ranked player. who turned 25 on Sunday. Afterward, Kostyuk said, “I’m still in shock. To beat such an unbelievable player, who won four times here.”.
The tennis itself carried the turning points. Kostyuk held her ground and chased Swiatek’s shots all over the court. while Swiatek’s own errors started to pile up. From the outset, an intense baseline battle unfolded. Swiatek showed signs of nerves: she double-faulted, shanked a forehand wide, and missed a volley at the net.
Kostyuk leveled at 5-5 in the opener. Swiatek hit two more double faults in the 12th game, and then the 15th-seeded Ukrainian player sealed the set with a backhand passing shot.
Swiatek briefly left the court after that, but the momentum didn’t swing back. Kostyuk kept herself warm by stretching and hopping beside her chair, then received applause when she did a few dance moves to the music playing in the stadium.
A first week marked by a suffocating heatwave had ended with a weather shift. On Sunday, relief arrived in Paris as temperatures dropped to 21 degrees C (70 F) around midday. When play resumed, Swiatek broke, but another double fault paired with more unforced errors brought Kostyuk back at 1-1. From there, Kostyuk won the last five games.
It wasn’t a surprise that she was dangerous. Ahead of the French Open, Kostyuk had been the best player of the clay-court season, extending her winning streak on clay to 16 matches. She won in Madrid after claiming another clay-court title in Rouen, France, and took the biggest title of her career.
She described her mindset simply. “The most important thing that I’ve been doing this whole time is really just trying to enjoy,” she said. “It’s helping. I want to keep enjoying. I try not to focus at all on winning or losing because I’m not playing tennis to win. I’m playing tennis because I love it.”.
For the tournament, Kostyuk’s surge also tightened the field. None of the players still in the draw have yet lifted the trophy in Paris, following Coco Gauff’s elimination on Saturday and Swiatek’s exit.
The men’s draw added its own disruption: Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic were defeated, and Carlos Alcaraz is absent because of an injury.
In men’s play. Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar moved into his first Grand Slam quarterfinal after coming back from two sets down to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6. 4-6. 6-1. 6-2. 6-2. Jodar. who also played five sets in the previous round. will play second-seeded and former runner-up Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. Zverev defeated Jesper de Jong 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.
On the women’s side. Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea beat Chinese qualifier Wang Xiyu 6-3. 7-6 (4) to reach her second Roland Garros quarterfinal. 17 years after first making it to the last eight. The gap between Cirstea’s first and second Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in Paris is the longest at a single major by any woman in the Open Era. “There is no expiration date for ambition and for dreams,” Cirstea said. “I think back then I was a kid, just started on tour. Now I have so many years behind me. I have so much experience, maturity. I feel I’m a completely different player.”.
By the end of the Sunday quarterfinals, the French Open was moving toward something it hasn’t seen in this format before: an all-Ukrainian semifinal, with Kostyuk standing over Swiatek’s shattered record at the center of it.
Marta Kostyuk Iga Swiatek Elina Svitolina Belinda Bencic French Open Roland Garros Ukraine semifinals clay court season quarterfinals
Wait so Swiatek lost on her birthday? That’s wild, I didn’t even know it was today.
All-Ukrainian semifinal sounds cool but I’m confused—how is that “first time in the professional era” if tennis has been around forever? Also 6-1 is a beatdown, Swiatek really got cooked.
Is this the part where war stuff gets used to hype sports? Like I get it’s inspiring but sometimes it feels like they’re trying to make it bigger than it is. Still though, I guess if Svitolina beat Bencic 6-0 then yeah that bracket is crazy.
I swear I saw Swiatek was “still untouchable” like last week… then she loses 7-5 6-1? That second set score looks like a typo. And the article keeps mentioning clay like that explains everything lol. Also “Ukraine steps closer” like to what, the final? Or like geopolitical closer? People should just say tennis, not make it sound like something else.