Marta Kostyuk defeated four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday to ruin her birthday and reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
Kostyuk, who is undefeated on clay this season, had lost his previous three matches and had not won a set against the former top-ranked player, who turned 25 on Sunday.
Swiatek’s loss ensures that there will be a new French Open singles champion between men and women. Novak Djokovic became the last former men’s champion to survive before being eliminated in the third round on Thursday.
“I still can’t believe I won against an incredible player who has won here four times, even though I had lost to her (three times) and had never taken a set from her,” Kostyuk said. “I think the most important thing I’ve ever done is really just try to have fun. I woke up this morning and thought, what an incredible day I’m going to have today to play against Iga at Chatelier.”
Kostyuk chased Swiatek’s shots all over the court on Sunday and defended very well, producing spectacular winners with his groundstrokes while his rival was crushed by his own mistakes.
“Last year was a little harder for me to deal with stress,” Swiatek said. “I didn’t feel good today and made some mistakes that I didn’t want to make. I wanted to play it safe, but the ball went all over the place.”
It was a fierce baseline battle from the start, with Swiatek overpowering Kostyuk with a backhand winner after a long rally to earn the first break. However, Kostyuk quickly broke back, but dropped serve again to give Swiatek a 5-4 lead.
The Polish player showed signs of nervousness as he double-faulted, swung a forehand wide and missed the volley into the net, leveling Kostyuk at 5-5. Swiatek committed two more double faults in the 12th game, and Kostyuk sealed the set with a backhand passing shot.
While Swiatek briefly left the court, Kostyuk stretched and jumped next to his chair to warm up. She performed some dance moves to the music playing in the stadium and received applause.
When play resumed, Swiatek broke, but another unforced error and double fault put his opponent back up 1-1. After that, Kostyuk won the last five matches.
Kostyuk had reached the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2021, but lost to Swiatek.
The Ukrainian player, ranked 15th in the rankings, continues to perform well, extending his winning streak on clay to 16 matches. Prior to Roland Garros, she also won the title on clay in Rouen, France, before winning the biggest title of her career in Madrid.
“The most important thing I’ve ever done is just try to have fun,” she said. “It’s helping me. I want to keep having fun. I try not to focus on winning or losing at all because I don’t play tennis to win. I play tennis because I love it.”
After his first-round victory, Kostyuk fought back tears as he described how he learned the morning of the fight that a missile had nearly hit his parents’ home in Ukraine. She said she is exhausted from speaking out against the war for so long, but plans to continue voicing her opinion.
Swiatek has not won a title on clay since the 2024 French Open. This was her earliest exit at Roland Garros since her main draw debut in 2019, when she lost in the round of 16.
Kostyuk will face fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals. The seventh seed came from behind to defeat 11th seed Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.
“It’s already great because we will play against Ukraine in the semi-finals,” Svitolina said. “I don’t think there could be a more amazing accomplishment for Ukrainian tennis. I think it’s really, really difficult at a time when we’re in such a difficult situation with the war and the invasion. And I think it’s really encouraging for the next generation to really believe that it’s possible to play on this court one day and win.”
World No. 18 Solana Cirstea also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Wang Shiyu.
Cirstea, 36, plans to retire at the end of this season. She is the third oldest woman to reach the round of 16 at Roland Garros in the French Open era (since 1968) and the oldest since Billie Jean King in 1980.
She last reached the quarterfinals in 2009, when she was 19 years old. Cirstea’s first and second Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in Paris were the longest by a female player in a single major in the Open era.
“Ambitions and dreams have no expiry date,” Thurstair said. “And I’m so passionate about this sport. I really love tennis and it’s an absolute joy to still be able to play at this level and have my family, my team and the people closest to me watching over me.”
“Sometimes society puts us into certain groups because of our age, but I think in life you’re free to do whatever you want. And I want to play. And here I am.”
Cirstea will next face world No. 8 Mira Andreeva, who defeated Jill Teichmann 6-3, 6-2.
After a first week of suffocating heatwaves, relief finally arrived in Paris on Sunday, with temperatures dropping to 70 degrees by midday.
The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.
