Key events
On TNT, they’re interviewing Jodar’s mates, and I don’t know how on earth they can handle watching him on court. In the club in Ibiza last summer, I got chatting to a Swiss lad who was best mates with Fabian Schar, and he said he was at Wembley when Newcastle beat Liverpool to win the League Cup and totally lost his mind crying.
Anyway, Jodar’s mates do him proud, noting that he’s a great tenniser and “an even better person”. They’ve had dinner with him the last few nights and don’t really talk about tennis, but life and stuff that’s going on back at home in Madrid.
Jodar himself comes across as a lovely bloke, in total control of himself with a winner’s mentality already ensconced in his grey matter. I can’t wait to see how he handles this situation – and I don’t have to because he’s about to serve in game one.
Righto, much as I’d love to keep talking about Oor Marta – I don’t think she’s related to Oor Maddy – Zverev and Jodar have emerged on Chatrier, so it’s time to engage with what could be a classic.
That match was a lot of fun, and every timer I hear Kostyuk speak, I’m glad we’ve instituted her as a favourite of this blog. The way she plays, with risk, joy, resilience and aggression, is spectacular, attacking with freedom and defending with conviction. A year or two ago, she’d have retreated after losing the second set, or wildly tried to hit her way out of the tension, but now, she can evaluate a match-state, work out what it’s demanding of her, and commit to her strategy with confidence. She is flowering, and it’s beautiful to behold.
Taking some time to compose herself, Marion comforts her, then she tells us about the historic match she and Svitolina have just played, following another difficult night in Kyiv with many people dying. “I want to give this match to the Ukrainian people and their resilience,” she says, the moment of her life necessarily tainted by tragedy.
A long round of applause follows and Kostyuk, clearly moved, extols Svitolina’s impact on Ukrainian tennis, on her and on everyone watching. She’s really happy to be in the semis, but wants to thanks her opponent for a great match.
Asked about the match, she says she missed one point at the start of the third set, looked up at Sandra Zaniewska, her coach, and “saw that she was really, really pissed”, not something that happens often, and realised what she needed to do. It was really difficult in the first two sets, she wasn’t aggressive enough, but then she found her rhythm and she’s very happy she committed to it. “I was thinking, ‘How do I wanna play if I wanna win the tournament here, and this was the answer and it worked.’”
Told that there’ll be a new winner of this tournament this year, she says she still thinks it’s very far and she still has two matches to play, but you can tell she believes she can do it and she’s excited for Thursday.
Finally, she’s asked whether she’s practised her backflip – she performed one in Madrid when she won – saying she doesn’t need to as she did it a month ago so knows she still can, but will only go once more, if and when she wins a slam.
Oh, and before she goes, she tells us that she and Svitolina have foundations to support tennis in Ukraine, so hopes people can support them.
Gosh, what it’s taken Kostyuk to get to this moment. Delighted, she celebrates then covers her eyes – remember that after her first-round match, she told us she’d spent the morning crying after a bomb landed near her family home in Kyiv, and there’s more to this than just tennis. Her people have been under attack for years now, there’s no sign of that stopping, and the weight of the duty she feels to deliver hope and joy must be overwhelming. Here she is…
Marta Kostyuk (15) beats Elina Svitolina (7) 6-2 2-6 6-2
A wonderful performance from Kostyuk, who rode Svitolina’s comeback then assaulted her with power and touch, making her first grand slam semi, Ukraine’s first French Open semi, and looking a serious threat to lift the trophy. She’s now won 17 matches in a row, and faces Mirra Andreeva in the last four.
Er, no. Sahe’s hit a seam and you can tell by the way she’s playing and carrying herself, she feel invincible. She makes 3-0, then smokes down and ace, and holds three match points!
Kostyuk makes 15-30 and she’s feeling herself something fierce, chopping a drop to raise two points for the double break. We’ve said all along, her bigger game means that, if she plays well, there’s not much Svitolina can do to stop her and, amazingly, she’s found the very best of it when pressure is at its most intense.Another pair of nails forehands are just too much for her under-powered opponent, and at 5-2, she’s running away with this now, proving to us but most of all to herself that not only does she belong at this level, she can dominate. But will she get tight serving for the match?
Whatever happens from here, Kostyuk is, I think, this year’s Anisimova, overcoming her negative aspect to platform her attacking inclination and cementing herself among the elite. She’s nervous, of course she is – how couldn’t she be, who wouldn’t be – but she’s also thinking clearly, adjusting her game in this set to mix things up a little more, supporting her power with more and better net-play. This time, she consolidates to love, and at 4-2 is two games away from the semis.
Oh man! At 15-all, they slug it out from the back, then Kostyuk illustrates the difference between the two, hurling the entirety of her corporeal and spiritual being into a forehand cross that’s far too good. And, while Svitolina is facing away, retrieving a ball to the corner, she sneaks in to volley a drop that raises two more break points, dominating the next rally, but when she cant finish it, she’s out of position, and is passed; 30-40. Again, though, she’s offered a second serve, collars it but doesn’t do quite enough, so bangs a forehand to the corner, forcing the hail Mary riposte down the line; it catches the net cord … and somehow, she reacts quickly enough to divert a volley into court! Kostyuk salutes the crowd and righty so, that was a terrific game and rally she just played, upping her power but also her level, and that’s five games, five breaks and 3-2 in the third.
Svitoina makes 0-15 then lands a ball on the line that shoots away as Kostyuk chases it down; 0-15. A forehand winner, though, halves the deficit, and a return zips out by inches … only for Kostyuk to hit the tape with an inside-out forehand. Then, on break point, she plays a decent rally, opts to come in … and directs her forehand volley wide. Four games, four breaks, 2-2 in the third.
A backhand winner makes Kostyuk 0-15, but the pressure to hit the winners that’ll win her the match might just be telling on her; it’s hard to be precise when you’re nervous. Ahahaha, of course no sooner have I said that than she slams a return down the line and into the corner for 30-all and though she doesn’t do quite enough when offered a second serve, Svitolina nets a routine forehand then, just as I’m about to bet she goes for a bit more after sending down a fault, she dumps her second delivery, and that’s three games, three breaks, Kostyuk up 2-1 in the third. A hold here, and the semi will feel both very close and still a long way away.
In the first set, it was easy for Kostyuk, but now, she’s being asked constant questions and, at 30-all, as they go cross to cross, Svitolina changes directions with a backhand down the line, a clean winner. and break-back point is quickly converted, a netted backhand causing Kostyuk to show the first sign of frustration; she’s getting tight, cognisant that she’s living the moments of her life, right now. We’re 1-1 in the third.
I wonder if Kostyuk was a little one-note in that second set, looking to do the same thing against an opponent doing different things; she might want to vary angle, spin and trajectory a little more; she can’t just hit through the ball, I don’t think. But successive errors from Svitolina give her 0-30 without demanding she make a change, then an inside-out backhand on to the line raises three break points, the first two saved quickly but the third offering her a second serve, so she steps right into court. And this time, the ball arrives into the slot, a backhand monstered down the line for 1-0; can she endorse to take command of this decider?
Elina Svitolina takes the second set against Marta Kostyuk 6-2
Now Kostyuk is the one sent skittering about the court, netting a forehand for 15-all then, at 40-30, Svitolina hits lines, a backhand volley slice on to the side too good and raising deuce; she’s two points away from the set. But a lovely half-volley, Kostyuk adjusting by putting two hands on the racket for more control, gives her advantage … then Svitolina collars a backhand, swatting flat and cross to restore parity in the game. Then, when Kostyuk makes advantage, her wrong-footing backhand hits the net, after which she goes long on fore, donating set point … burned via dumped return. Again, though, Kostyuk errs – she’s being rushed, I think, thanks to Svito hitting earlier and harder – and another mistake means we’re going to a decider. Good!
A double hands Kostyuk 15-all, but Svitolina climbs into the next point with brutal forehands; she’s now standing a bit closer to the baseline and hitting the all earlier, as she does in making 40-15. Kostyuk isn’t making much impression on her serve now, and she holds for 5-2, a game away from forcing the decider we and this contest deserve.
At 15-0, a net cord gives Svitolina parity, then Kostyuk outlasts her from the back before a double takes us to 30-all. From there, though, a tame return into the net followed a pair of intimidating forehands secure the hold, and a 6-3 2-4 lead.
Exactly what Kostyuk needs, a straightforward hold to 15 with Svitolina back serving almost as soon as she stopped. And, at 15-0, Kostyuk makes her do all sorts to win the next point an excellent volley finishing it, then a service winner making 40-0 before the game is secured to 15. Kostyuk leads 6-3 1-4.
Svitolina holds to 15 and, for the first time in the match, she’s the better player, trailing 3-6 3-0. She might just’ve found the balance, upping the power without being reckless, while Kostyuk isn’t hitting quite as consistently as before.
Down 0-15, Kostyuk keeps hitting, but goes long with a forehand, then Svitolina opens a up the next point with a weapons-grade backhand … only to miss her drive-volley clean-up, not for the first time; 15-30. That is, I think, due at least in part to the pressure she’s under, Kostyuk’s ability to run almost anything down and hit winners from almost anywhere inciting her to go for more but, caught at net at 30-all, she does enough with her volleys to raise break point. And a forehand dragged wide converts it for her, Svitolina down 3-6 but up 2-0; has momentum switched?
Svitolina makes 30-0 but Kostyuk is all over her second serves, caning one back down the line for a winner than quickly making 30-all. A fine point follows, Svitolina eventually putting away a forehand volley, but the most noticeable aspect of it is how many times she had to win it, Kostyuk’s speed and movement, then skill when she gets to the ball, keeping the rally going – and as a contest, too. We wind up at deuce, then a pair of forehands earn Svitolina advantage, and this time when asked to serve a second time, she doesn’t dial-down the power by as much, facilitating a forehand winner for 3-6 1-0.
Kostyuk wins the first set against Svitolina 6-3
Svitolina makes 0-15 but then nets a volley on the stretch and the next rally is all Kostyuk, the precision of her footwork a product of the gymnastics she did in her youth and constantly getting her to the ball in good time and position to unload. But at 30-all she sends down a double … saving break-back point with a serve out wide. I really like her shot-selection so far today – if she misses, she misses, but she going for the right things – but then Svitolina plays a fine point, eventually finishing it following more defensive excellence from Kostyuk. And the younger woman again saves break point before again illustrating the power differential, a succession of booming groundstrokes taking her close to the set. Svitolina, though, finds a lovely drop which helps her restore deuce … but from there, Kostyuk closes out a hugely impressive 6-3 set. Playing her first grand slam semi, against an older compatriot who inspired her, with a history of struggling under pressure, she might’ve taken time to settle, but instead, fortified with the confidence of 15 wins on the spin, she’s attacked it like it’s hers and if she keeps doing what she’s doing, it’s hard to see how she loses.
Kostyuk makes 0-15 but then thwacks a swing-volley wide; the match remains on her racket, but that’s as much the case when she’s sending backhands into the net, as she does here, than when she’s hitting winners. “Hit through the ball,” says her coach, and have a look at what she does next, exactly that; you can’t be tentative against anyone, all the more so when power is in your favour. And it doesn’t just work for her, but against Svitolina who, next rally, is incited to go for more and misses; seconds later it’s 30-40 and break point. That’s saved, but then a big forehand sets up a pair of overheads, the second dispatched for advantage, and when a desperate return offers a swing-volley putaway, the pressure tells and Svitolina gives it too much. Kostyuk leads 5-3, and if trusts herself while handling the situation, she should win this match.
Oooh, without doing too much Svitolina makes 0-30 and is well up in the next rally, but a terrific get, a forehand squash-shot from corner to corner, sets up the forehand winner … only for a double to donate break-backs points at 15-40. And only one is required, a backhand down the line slices fractionally wide; without playing especially well, Svitolina is back on serve at 3-4. Can she build on that, or will the pattern remain the same?
The way this set is going, the only way Svito can win it is if Kostyuk gets nervous, and at 30-15, we see a point that illustrates the point, the difference in power and anticipation allowing a simple putaway at net. Oh, and a netted backhand offers the chance for a double break, Kostyuk stepping miles inside the baseline to attack a second serve. But when she doesn’t do enough with it, the riposte is sent to her ankles, and from there, Svitolina closes out a vital hold which keeps her in the set at 2-4.
Svitolina makes 0-15, but a service winner levels the game then, at 30-15, Kostyuk waits for one that sits up on the clay, then creams a backhand winner down the line. But she’s not the only one who can hit big shots, a cross-court return flying past her for 30-40, then an error donating deuce. Svitolina will know her younger opponent isn’t used to this kind of pressure and looks to up it by coming to net, but the approach doesn’t ask any questions, so Kostyuk passes her cross-court – she’s been excellent in that aspect so far today, aggressive without overhitting, and quickly closes out to lead 4-1 in the first. So far, she’s handling the opponent and situation perfectly, targeting the forehand and letting her hands go.
Svitolina needs to get herself into the match and she makes 30-0 in short order, then constructs a really good point, hitting lines as she sends Kostyuk nashing about the court from side to side. She holds to love and seems to have realised that in order to win this, she needs to hit harder – otherwise she’ll spend the match on the defensive, hoping her opponent misses. Kostyuk leads 3-1.
Kostyuk’s third-round win over Swiatek will have given her enormous confidence, the first time she’d beaten a top player at a slam. It was only a couple of days ago, but it feels like there’s more authority in her play now, the way she’s rallying marked by composure and patience. At 30-all, she finds a nice backhand slice that helps her to game point, and she puts the next one together nicely too, only to direct a slice into the net; deuce. For all the good it does Svitolina, Kostyuk rushing towards her consolidation and a 3-0 lead, dominating the match so far.
And she unloads immediately, making 15-30, then hauling a backhand cross-court and on to the sideline, raising two break points. I like the loop she’s getting on her forehand, which is pushing Svitolina back, and when the defensive lob comes, she confidently spanks her overhead into the corner – as her opponent could not – to lead 2-0.
Behind in the first rally, Kostyuk tries a lob, not an especially good one … and Svitolina flaps her overhead long. A service winner follows, then a return hooked wide, and when the younger woman reads an attempted putaway, she’s able to direct a forehand winner cross-court to secure the love hold. That’s an impressive start for a player playing the most important match of her career, and I’d expect her to attack Svitolina’s serve and see how she reacts to the pressure.
Kostyuk will serve, ready … play.
Svitolina and Kostyuk are out, competing to become the first Ukrainian to reach the last four of this competition. Both of them are in terrific nick, Kostyuk with the bigger game and the higher ceiling, but for the same reason, the lower floor, while Svitolina has experience and equilibrium on her side. Now that you ask, I’m leaning Kostyuk, but Chrissy has gone Svito; I’ll leave it to you to decide which of the two of us knows more about tennis.
I especially enjoyed the cleanliness of Andreeva’s hitting – her timing today was beautiful, a facility of her confidence. She committed to her aggression from the first ball, but the question now is how that works against someone able to do likewise or turn it against her.
Coming up next: Elina Svitolina (7) v Marta Kostyuk (15).
Andreeva says it’s always tough against Cirstea – last time they played and also when they practise, as they’ve done a fair bit. She knew the match wouldn’t be easy and would take all her focus and intensity, against an opponent who’d look to be aggressive and pressure her whenever she could, so she’s glad she was able to get in first.
Fabrice tells her the first time he saw her play, aged 16, and he was very impressed with her understanding of the game, and she explains that she never learnt how to play, she was just always excited to be on court. She assumed everyone read the game and didn’t think the way she did it was anything special, she just always knew which decision to make, though sometimes when she’s nervous they’re not always good; today, though, everything was on point.
Asked why she thanks herself when she wins titles, she laughs that originally it was something she’d heard Snoop Dogg say when receiving an award, that she pinched as a gag, but now she thinks about it, she knows it’s true – you need to thank yourself for the work you do and sacrifices you make so she wants to tell herself every time.
Ultimately, if you can’t outhit Andreeva, you’ve got a very big problem, and Cirstea could not. Even so, the performance was close to perfect and felt like a step forward, destroying a wily, confident veteran with apparent ease; she’s growing in front of our eyes, the question now whether she can dominate against other members of the elite. I can’t wait to find out, and here she is…
Mirra Andreeva (8) beats Sorana Cirstea (18) 6-0 6-3
A majestic, mature performance from Andreeva, locked-in from the start and ruthless to the end, a forehand winner to the corner securing the win. She’s into her second grand slam semi and will face the winner of our next match between Svitolina and Kostyuk.
Cirstea knows the jig is bust, going for everything because what else can she do. But an error hands over 15-30 and a backhand winner down the line raises two match points.
Sure enough, Andreeva breaks to 15, and she’s enjoying herself out there. Her backhand, in particular, is a delightful shot, but it’s her footwork and ability to change pace and direction with her shots that makes her special; her tennis IQ has been there, more or less, since the start – it’s just about building the strength and experience to go with it. She breaks, consolidates, and at 6-0 5-3 is now a game away, Cirstea doing all she can, but powerless against the onslaught.
Cirstea, though, isn’t going away, making 0-30, then at 15-30 Andreeva comes in and stretches for a putaway, sending it wide. And though she saves the first break point with a backhand winner, she then nets a forehand and that’s the break back for 0-6 3-3. In comms, Chrissy points out that a dip was always likely because it’s not possible to play as well as Andreeva was for an entire match, and that’s true – though, at the same time, it’s impossible not to think about how ridiculously Sabalenka performed last evening, against a far superior opponent, and wonder if that’s what it’ll take to challenge the world no 1.
Andreeva’s ability to explode from the off is extremely impressive, a statement that tells Cirstea – and the rest of the field – that she’s ready, the serious stuff beginning now. Only the best can do that, cycling through the gears at will, and she holds easily then, from 15-all, plays a gorgeous half-volley that has Conchita Martinez, her coach, almost eating her own face in delighted smiles, then two definitive groundstrokes secure the break as if she’d simply decided it was time. This is very impressive behaviour, perhaps the most commanding i’ve ever seen her at this stage of a slam, and she leads 6-0 3-2.
If Cirstea can keep holding, the set’ll come down to a few points here and there, but up 40-15 she invites pressure by going long on the forehand … then closes out the game with a serve out wide and clean-up swing-volley. Andreeva leads 6-0 1-2.
This is, of course, a sad day for all ADHD-types – no longer can our eyes dart around three or four screens, various matches compartmentalised into various parts of brain, while merging into one in another. But what an opportunity to hyper-focus and fully immerse into what we hope will be a succession of epics … in which regard Cirstea has closed from 40-0 to 40-30 with the help of a lovely backhand winner and a double, then Andreeva goes long and do we got ourselves a ball-game? Er, well a forehand winner is followed by an ace – the umpire has to check the mark as both players thought it was wide – and we’re level at 1-1 in set two.
Ah, and Cirstea is on the board, a hold sparing her the embarrassment of a double bagel. But can she compete?
In the time since play started, Andreeva has imposed herself, a bagel set putting her in complete control; the roof is closed.
Preamble
Salut à tous et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2026 – dixième jour!
On the one hand, we’ve only three singles matches in this session … and on the other, just look at them!
We saw Mirra Andreeva coming a mile off, a talent so luminous so young and technique so pretty, it was hard to believe she was only 15 … except she looked and acted like she was only 15, a cheeky, impetuous sprite with very obvious flaws. Now a venerable 19, the obvious flaws remain – we are who we are – and also, she’s much better at working with them – we create ourselves afresh every day. But is she ready to win a grand slam?
Her defensive inclination, the consequence of power yet to fully develop, is unlikely to undermine her against Sorana Cirstea, a veteran of composure and nous, but the matchup is no gimme. “There is no expiration date for ambition and for dreams,” Cirstea said after her fourth-round win, evidence of a burgeoning sense of mission – understandably so, given she’d just set a record for the longest gap between a player’s first two quarter-finals at a women’s singles major in the open era. We can be almost certain she won’t shrink, and if she can take away what Andreeva does best, denying her width, angle and backhands, she has a chance.
Following them on to court is a Ukrainian derby of affirming excitement. Elina Svitolina is a wonder of womanhood, taking time off to have a baby and returning an entirely different player: stronger, fresher and attacking her shots with the conviction of equilibrium. She knows she represents something bigger than herself – her family and her people – using emotion to elevate, and bringing the crowds with her.
Marta Kostyuk’s story is not dissimilar. The night before her round one match, a Russian bomb hit close to her family home and, like Svitolina, it’s taken her a while to find her identity as a player, struggling to assimilate her vast toolbox into the maelstrom of moments and the stress of elite sport. But she’s there now, unbeaten through the clay-court swing having won 16 matches in a row, her power, agility and brain synchronised into the very model of a modern major tenniser. She’s ready to win today and, for the first time, she’s ready to contest a semi-final and final.
We complete our day-sesh with le bangeur of a men’s match. After his undressing by Jannik Sinner in last year’s Aussie Open final, Alexander Zverev – the best player never to win a grand slam – clearly thought his time had gone and rightly so. But the absence of Carlos Alcaraz along with the exits of Sinner and Novak Djokovic mean he is now the overwhelming favourite, the chance of lifetime – one he surely thought he’d never get – bringing with it overwhelming pressure.
And Rafael Jodar will only compound that, the soaring 19-year-old unknown a year ago and now a serious force in the game – especially on clay. His forehand is terrifying and line backhand nasty, but even more apparent is his temperament: to get here, he’s won two five-setters in a row, riding the fluctuations and undulations with maturity and joy. We don’t know what he’s got left; we do know we’ll see absolutely all of it.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying we’re in for an absolute treat. Chauette! On y va!
