Kostyuk solves 4-time champ Swiatek, awaits Svitolina in all-Ukrainian Paris quarter

PARIS -- World No. 15 Marta Kostyuk is through to her second career Grand Slam quarterfinal.  

Roland Garros: Scores | Order of play | Draws 

Defeating four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 for the first time in four tries, Kostyuk heads to the quarterfinals in Paris, also for the first time. She'll put her now 16-match unbeaten streak on clay on the line against either Ukrainian compatriot and World No. 7 Elina Svitolina, who defeated Belinda Bencic. Tuesday will be her second Grand Slam quarterfinal after a run to the final eight at the 2024 Australian Open. 

Kostyuk relied on her return game, breaking Swiatek six times, including five times consecutively across Swiatek's final five service games. The Achilles heel for Swiatek would be her 39 unforced errors -- three times more than her 13 winners -- and a 45% win rate of first service points.

"She wasn't hurting me much with the first serve today," Kostyuk said to press. "I was just returning everything, and it's not easy to play against someone who returns all of your serves and puts a lot of pressure on you in the second serve.

"As the match was progressing, she was feeling it more and more, so her serve was becoming either more desperate in the sense that she would serve harder or make more double faults or actually serve slower, so I had more time to step in."

What the win means?

• Kostyuk remains undefeated on clay this season. She's 15-0 in WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz events (with two titles), and adding her win in Billie Jean King Cup in April, she's 16-0. 
• Kostyuk has made her third clay court WTA level quarter-final of the season in addition to Rouen and Madrid. Prior, she only reached two in her career -- Istanbul 2021 and Stuttgart 2024.
• She's just the fifth player this century to win her first 16 matches on clay, joining the company of Venus Williams (2004), Serena Williams (2012, 2023), Justine Henin (2005) and Swiatek (2022).
• Kostyuk now has a 6-3 record against top 10 players this season, with only Svitolina and Elena Rybakina having more wins (seven each). 

Entering, it was one of the most intriguing matchups as the World No. 3 Swiatek, who's found her rhytym once again after hiring Francisco Roig, battled Kostyuk, who's had one of the best clay-court seasons on tour with titles in Rouen and Madrid. 

The encounter was standard to start as both held strong on serve through the first six games, and then came the match's first break. During the rally, the World No. 3 kept targeting Kostyuk's backhand. As Kostyuk would re-position toward the center of the baseline, Swiatek's cleverness to send the ball behind Kostyuk to her backhand, inevitably opened space on the forehand. Though Kostyuk hustled for to save the rally, Swiatek had too much space and scored the break at 4-3.

However, that would be the first of two break leads in the set Swiatek dropped in the subsequent service game. The second came when Swiatek led 5-4, up a break, and Kostyuk capitalized on a rifling backhand to Swiatek, who was at the net, and couldn't time the half-volley, which went into the net. Following a Kostyuk hold, as she led 6-5, Swiatek's uncharacteristic two double faults in the game created a set point for Kostyuk. She sent a spectacular backhand winner cross-court right as Swiatek came to the net, taking the set in unlikely fashion.

Though she only had five, the Swiatek double faults came at pivotal moments. Just how the first set played out, the second set followed the trend. Swiatek would break, and then Kostyuk managed to get it back with the help of a double fault that set up break point. 

"I think the serve is the most complicated shot," Swiatek said to press. "If something will fall apart a bit under pressure, I feel like it's serve and then movement and then just mis-hitting everything. I guess that happened today."

Kostyuk's best stretch of the match ensued, holding in a four-deuce game, and then winning eight straight points, including a break of Swiatek at love. In that fourth game, Kostyuk had a pair of powerful forehand winners -- she finished with 25 winners Sunday -- and Kostuk rode that, winning six consecutive games to oust Swiatek. 

Svitolina rallies to edge Bencic

For the fifth time in the seven matchup history, Svitolina emerged victorious over the Swiss in a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win. Despite dropping the first set, Svitolina looked dominant the rest of the way, taking the final seven games of the match including a sweep of the third set. She now has 11 three-set wins this season, equal to Coco Gauff and Magda Linette.

Svitolina, 31, becomes is the oldest player since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the singles quarterfinals of Rome and Roland Garros in the same season. 

"I found my opportunity to close that [second] set 6-4 on the return," Svitolina said to press. "I feel when you are playing in the late stages of the tournament, you have to be just giving yourself a good opportunity to play, to compete.

"I was today very happy with the way I was a good competitor, and I think it really puts me through that not easy and tricky second set where she was almost was coming back in it."

Key stat: Svitolina exploited Bencic's second serve, winning 62% of those points (12-of-32), guiding her to a similar six breaks just like Kostyuk's match. 

Up next: Svitolina vs. Kostyuk

A part of history: Tuesday's upcoming quarterfinal will mark the second time that two Ukrainian players reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam (2024 Australian Open, Dayana Yastremska and Kostyuk) and the first time in Paris. 

"I feel like it's going to be an exciting battle for Ukraine, hat there will be one Ukrainian in the semis," Svitolina smiled. "I think it's really cool, to be fair."

Kostyuk and Svitolina have split both their meetings, with the former winning in Toronto in 2024 and Svitolina taking the first meeting at the 2018 Australian Open. The stakes are much higher this go around, with Kostyuk her first Grand Slam semifinal while Svitolina seeks her second of the season. It's also guaranteed that Kostyuk's 16-match win streak or Svitolina's 10-match win streak will come to an end.

"She's a legend of Ukrainian tennis, and [it's] such an honor to share the court with her on Tuesday," Kostyuk said of her next opponent. "She's paved the way for a lot of Ukrainian girls and boys, and she's doing great. And especially this year, she's doing unbelievable. It's going to be a good match."