Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk sets up Roland-Garros semi-final match with Russia’s Mirra Andreeva
A tearful Marta Kostyuk made history by becoming the first Ukrainian woman to reach the Roland-Garros singles semi-final, remaining excellent on clay this year, edging out countrywoman Elina Svitolina in three sets.
The 15th seed, who won the Rouen and Madrid championships and arrived in Paris as one of the fittest players of the tour, defeated four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the previous round, then lost the middle set to Svitolina and came back with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory.
But there is much more to the success of any Ukrainian player.
Kostyuk’s career-best victory came after a tragic night at home, where Russian bombings targeting several Ukrainian cities resulted in at least 10 deaths as the devastation of the ongoing war continued.
Just last week, the 23-year-old broke down in tears after her first round win and revealed that a Russian missile strike had horribly destroyed a building near her family’s home in Kiev.
“If it had been 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have had my mother and sister,” Kostyuk said at the time.
Kostyuk once again shed light on the devastation in Ukraine after advancing to the semi-finals in Paris where she will face 19-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3.
Kostyuk said on the field: “We had another very difficult night in Ukraine, especially in Kiev, and I want to dedicate this match to the Ukrainian people and their resilience.”
Kostyuk has consistently praised fellow Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova for being outspoken about the relative silence of Russian and Belarusian players during the war in Ukraine, admitting that she no longer has the emotional energy to do the same.
“I saw [the bombing] I already started last night in the evening but I never follow the news during the night. “So I wouldn’t change anything at all and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all,” he said.
“If I can’t live without their news and I can’t follow them, then I can go back to Ukraine and live there because I’m here, I’m safe, I’m here to do my job. Frankly, I’m trying to separate these things.
“Of course, when I woke up today I saw it was all over the news. I texted my family to see if they were okay. That’s pretty much what I can do. The biggest thing I can do is sit here and talk about it so more people can find out about it so they don’t get used to this crappy life.”
Svitolina, who is married to retired French star Gael Monfils, started the Roland-Garros season in similarly great form but fell 4-1 behind Kostyuk with an error-filled start.
This delayed opening bothered him as he managed to take the break back but quickly gave it back as his first serve failed him before an errant drop shot gave Kostyuk a 5-3 lead.
Even then, Kostyuk had to save two more back points to move up a set, but Svitolina turned the tables dramatically with a dominant second set – including winning all 10 points when she went to the net – to force a decider.
The last set was very competitive.
They took breaks in the first five games until the aggressive Kostyuk finished this series in authoritative fashion with a love serve hold for a 4-2 win. After that, he lost just one point as he reached the semi-finals.
Zverev keeps title hopes alive
Alexander Zverev’s complicated legacy helps explain his underwhelming response to his fifth semi-final appearance at Roland-Garros.
The German star, who was the title favorite in the absence of defeated rivals Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic as well as the injured Carlos Alcaraz, ended Spanish prodigy Rafael Jodar’s hopes of replicating the remarkable achievement of his idol Rafael Nadal in winning the clay court major for the first time in his youth.
Zverev, the owner of the poisoned chalice as the best male player without a Grand Slam title, overcame a 5-2 deficit in the first set and defeated 19-year-old Jodar with a masterful performance, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-3.
Jodar will rue a frustrating few minutes filled with loose forehand errors as he tried and failed to serve the first set, which would have tipped the contest squarely in Zverev’s favour.
Later, when asked if he was proud to make it to the final four again in Paris, Zverev’s answer was revealing.
“Not really. I don’t really care,” said the world No. 3 and three-time grand finalist.
“Of course I want to continue. I want to be in the tournament and I want to win the matches in front of me – and that is my goal. I feel that today was a very tough test against a very good player and I did it, I won and of course I am happy to be in the semi-finals, but that’s it for now.”
Another rising star, Czech marathoner Jakub Mensik, stands between Zverev and a second Roland-Garros final.
The 20-year-old, the only Czech man to go this far in Paris alongside Tomas Berdych, Petr Korda, Ivan Lendl and Jan Kodes, won the high-octane contest with Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Mensik, who suffered cramps all over his body after his nearly five-hour second-round victory over Argentinian Mariano Navone, put in a spectacular performance against Fonseca but had to rally from behind twice in the third set.
Fonseca fended off six match points with a magnificent and fearless 12-minute strike at 5-6 in the third set; including misfiring Mensik’s header in the second set, but fell behind early in the tiebreak and was unable to chase down his Czech opponent.
This Roland-Garros championship has become a land of opportunity for a group of men accustomed to falling short days ago.
In a dramatic opening week, the big names fell behind one by one, including Sinner and Djokovic. None of the top 10 seeds Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur or Alexander Bublik advanced beyond the round of 32.
Zverev is sometimes ridiculed in some quarters of the tennis world for his comments about where he sits in the men’s rankings.
After this year’s Madrid final – where Sinner defeated him once again – Zverev suggested he sit behind the Italian team with Alcaraz and Djokovic, but well ahead of the others. The backlash convinced him to clarify his comments in an interview with John and Patrick McEnroe.
“I’m not saying I’m there career-wise. I don’t compare myself to them, I’m not stupid,” Zverev said. MacZone.
Zverev is generally not as popular with men as his peers at the top, at least in part due to domestic violence allegations from two of his former partners; both were settled out of court without any admission of guilt by the German.
But Zverev’s critics did not forget.
Social media posts were hijacked after actor Salma Hayek posted a selfie with Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong after he beat her in the fourth round.
Much of the criticism was based on Hayek and her businessman husband Francois-Henri Pinault’s Kering Foundation, which supports women and children victims of violence.
Liked or hated, Zverev’s chances of capturing his first grand slam title have never been better.
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