Roland Garros 2026 Women’s Day 8

Rising clay powerhouse Marta Kostyuk kept the upsets rolling at Roland Garros on Sunday as she sent four-time champion Iga Swiatek out 7-5, 6-1, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.

The Ukrainian stands an unblemished 15-0 on the dirt at the Tour level after defeating her former world No. 1 opponent who celebrated a bitter 25th birthday.

The exit of third seed Swiatek came a day after defending champion Coco Gauff was stunned by Anastasia Potapova and during a week where men’s top seed Jannik Sinner and three-time champion Novak Djokovic were both shown the door.

The Kostyuk victory sets up a clash in the last eight with compatriot Elina Svitolina, after the seventh seed defeated Swiss Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Svitolina will be playing the quarters here for a sixth time as the Rome champion plays the winner of Madrid and brings s 10-match win streak to the match.    

“There could not be a better tournament for us,” Svitolina said. “It’s an amazing achievement for Ukrainian tennis.

“It’s been difficult since the war and the (Russian) invasion. But this is something inspiring for the next generation to believe it’s possible to play sports.

“The match was not easy, I always have big battles with Belinda.  I tried to stay locked in with my tactics. I brought my best fighting spirit today.”

Kostyuk was one of a record four Ukrainian women who reached the third round in Paris; she arrived with titles in Rouen and the Madrid Masters.

Poland’s Swiatek lost for only the fourth time here and owns 43 victories at the clay major.

Kostyuk finished off the match with a pair of aces and set up match points with a drop shot. Swiatek drove a service return wide to lose after 98 minutes.

The 23-year-old from Kyiv broke new ground with her quarter-final, the second of her career at a Grand Slam after 2024 Australia. 

She had lost in three previous meetings with Swiatek – including Paris five years ago – never winning more than four games in a set.

“I’m still in shock,” the 15th-ranked winner said. “It’s incredible, I still cannot believe it.”

Kostyuk tried to explain her clay surge this spring:  “I’ve given myself the space to challenge my opponent. The most important thing for me is to enjoy.

“I woke up this morning and thought what a day I have to live. I want to keep enjoying, not focusing on winning or losing.

“”I’m not playing tennis to win. I’m playing tennis because I love it. I want to connect to people. I want to make people happy & unite people.”

The hour-long first set featured five breaks of serve, with Kostyuk dictating play to an opponent who normally takes that role.

The 15ht-ranked Ukrainian dropped serve to start the second set but got it straight back before sweeping to victory.

Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, whose upcoming retirement at age 36 is looking more and more uncertain, powered into the last eight 6-3, 7-6 (4) over China’s Wang Xiu.

The pair each struck more than 30 unforced errors each and converted on a combined nine break points out of 21.

 Cirstea has been on a clay hot streak, reaching semis at both Rouen and Rome.

“It was a great match played really well,” the winner said. “I didn’t do much wrong and she played amazing.

“I was very happy to close it out in two sets as it was getting very, very hard at the end.”

Cirstea is playing her 17th French Open main draw and reached the quarters in 2009, her second appearance.

“There is no expiration date for dreams and ambitions,” she said. I love tennis. To still play at this level is an absolute joy.

“In life, you are free to do what you want – I want to pay and here I am. The farther I go, the less pressure I put on myself.

“My passion is tennis, I’m so grateful for everything that is happening.”

Cirstea moved into a match against eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, who needed four match points to finally prevail 6-3, 6-2 over Swiss Jil Teichmann.

Andreeva, 19, is into the Paris quarters for the third straight year and played a semi-final in 2024.

Teichmann saved three match-winners for Andreeva while trailing a set and 5-1, finally holding serve.

But the seed finished off the job a game later, coming good on her fourth chance,

“I was playing much better today than in my previous matches, she said. “Jil is tough and has been playing well.

“I had to be solid the entire match, I could not  afford mistakes like I made in the other matches.

I had extra focus from the first ball, I’m super-happy with how I played today.”