Marta Kostyuk delivered one of the biggest surprises of the French Open on Sunday, defeating four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 to advance to her first career quarterfinal in Paris.
The 15th-seeded Ukrainian ended Swiatek’s tournament on the Polish star’s 25th birthday, continuing a remarkable clay-court season that has seen Kostyuk emerge as one of the tour’s hottest players. Entering the match, she had lost all three previous meetings with Swiatek and had never taken a set from the former world No. 1.
After a tightly contested opening set, Kostyuk capitalized on a series of errors from Swiatek and seized momentum by winning the final three games of the set. She then dominated the second set, using strong defense, consistent baseline play and timely winners to close out the biggest victory of her career.
The result extends Kostyuk’s unbeaten run on clay this season and eliminates another former champion from a tournament that is guaranteed to crown a first-time women’s singles winner. Defending champion Coco Gauff exited earlier in the event, while Swiatek’s defeat removes the most accomplished remaining player in the women’s draw.
Following the victory, Kostyuk expressed surprise at the outcome. “I’m still in shock. To beat such an unbelievable player, who won four times here, I’d lost (three) times to her, never taken a set off her, I still cannot believe it,” Kostyuk said. “I think the most important thing I’ve been doing is really just trying to enjoy. I woke up this morning and I just thought about what an unbelievable day I have to live today to play on Chatrier against Iga.”
Swiatek credited the defeat to physical and mental rigidity on the court. “I know that I lost because I was tense, and my body couldn’t really do what my body – the proper things, you know, but it’s not the first time,” Swiatek noted after the match. “So, yeah, just need to work on it. I feel, like, for sure I lost today because Marta used the opportunity, and I was super tense.”
With the win, Kostyuk moves into an all-Ukrainian quarterfinal matchup against seventh seed Elina Svitolina, who defeated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic earlier in the day. The upcoming match guarantees that a female representative from Ukraine will reach the Roland Garros semifinals for the first time in the professional era.
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