Iga Swiatek Stunned by Marta Kostyuk at French Open

Iga Swiatek faced elimination in the French Open as Marta Kostyuk dashed her hope of winning another title during a tournament filled with surprising outcomes. Swiatek, the defending champion and four-time winner, was defeated in a 7-5, 6-1 match on her 25th birthday, marking a disappointing milestone in her season.

Following Coco Gauff's surprising exit from the tournament on Saturday, Swiatek was the last remaining former champion in either the men’s or women’s draws at Roland Garros. Despite her past successes, this season has proved challenging for the Polish player, who struggled with errors throughout the match against the Ukrainian Kostyuk, who has been in excellent form.

"It is harder a bit to handle stress for me in the last year," Swiatek said post-match. "Today I felt off and I did mistakes that I didn’t want to do, and I wanted to play safe, but the ball flew everywhere. Suddenly these feelings came back, and I tried to work on it with my dialogue inside, but it was tough today. It all kind of went drastically down, and I played worse and worse."

Kostyuk’s victory was her 16th consecutive win on clay this season, having recently captured the Madrid title. This achievement marked her second career advancement to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, the first being during the 2024 Australian Open.

"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," exclaimed Kostyuk. "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, who switched coaches earlier this season to Francisco Roig, faced challenges despite starting her French Open campaign strong. After winning her first three matches comfortably, she faced troubles during crucial moments against Kostyuk, including serving for the first set but faltering with double faults. Her forehand became increasingly erratic, culminating in a backhand error that contributed to her total of 38 unforced errors.

Following this defeat, Swiatek planned to focus on the grass season as she prepares to defend her Wimbledon title. Kostyuk, who had opened the tournament in tears after her family home in Kyiv narrowly avoided a Russian missile strike, continued her impressive run, now set to face compatriot Elina Svitolina, who had defeated Belinda Bencic in her own challenging match. Additionally, Romanian Sorana Cirstea reached the last eight of the French Open for the first time in 17 years.