Marta Kostyuk pulled off a massive upset at the French Open on Sunday, defeating four-time champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals in Paris for the very first time. The stunning defeat also ruined Swiatek's 25th birthday and guarantees that a brand-new singles champion will lift the trophy on both the men's and women's sides this year.

Kostyuk entered the match with a 0-3 head-to-head record against the former world No. 1, having never even won a single set against her. However, the 15th-ranked Ukrainian extended her spectacular, undefeated clay-court streak to 16 matches this season with an aggressive, elite defensive performance on Court Philippe-Chatrier, News.Az reports, citing ESPN.

An intense baseline battle unfolded in the opening set, with Swiatek serving for it at 5-4. Cracks began to show in the Pole's usually ironclad composure as she hit costly double faults and unforced errors, allowing Kostyuk to storm back, break twice, and secure the opening set with a brilliant backhand passing shot. Swiatek broke early in the second set, but her momentum evaporated instantly. Undone by mounting mistakes, she dropped the final five games of the match.

"To beat such an unbelievable player who won four times here... I still cannot believe it," Kostyuk said after the match. "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."

Kostyuk's incredible 16-0 start on clay this year marks the fourth-longest unbeaten clay streak to start a season on the WTA Tour in the past 20 years, trailing only legends Serena Williams and Swiatek herself. The emotional victory comes just days after Kostyuk revealed that a missile had narrowly missed her parents' home in Ukraine on the morning of her first-round match.

With Novak Djokovic knocked out in the third round on Thursday and Swiatek now eliminated, Roland Garros will crown two first-time champions. For Swiatek, this marks her earliest exit in Paris since her tournament debut in 2019.

Elsewhere in the draw, 36-year-old Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea also advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Wang Xiyu 6-3, 7-6 (4). Cirstea, who plans to retire at the end of the year, broke an Open-era record for the longest gap between Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances at a single major—having last reached the final eight in Paris as a 19-year-old in 2009.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada