A tearful Marta Kostyuk has made history as the first Ukrainian woman to reach the Roland-Garros singles semi-finals, outlasting countrywoman Elina Svitolina in three sets to remain perfect on clay this year.
The No.15 seed, who captured the Rouen and Madrid titles to arrive in Paris as one of the tour’s most in-form players, upset four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the previous round then bounced back from losing the middle set to Svitolina to win 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
But there is so much more to any Ukrainian player’s success.
Kostyuk’s career-best triumph followed a tragic night in her home country, where Russia’s targeted bombing in various Ukrainian cities resulted in at least 10 deaths as the devastation of the ongoing war continued.
Only last week, the 23-year-old broke down in tears after her first-round win, revealing a Russian missile strike destroyed a building frightfully close to her family’s home in Kyiv.
“If it had been 100 metres closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mother and a sister,” Kostyuk said at the time.
Kostyuk shone a light once more on the destruction in Ukraine after moving into the semi-finals in Paris, where she will face 19-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who thrashed Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, 6-0, 6-3.
“We had a very difficult night again in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv, and I want to give this match to the Ukrainian people and their resilience,” Kostyuk said on court.
Kostyuk has consistently lauded fellow Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova for being outspoken about Russian and Belarusian players’ relative silence amid the war in Ukraine, while admitting she no longer had the emotional energy to do the same herself.
“I saw [the bombing] started last night already in the evening, but I never follow news during the night. I mean, I will change absolutely nothing, and I will just not get any sleep,” she said.
“If I cannot live without news and not follow them, then I might as well go back to Ukraine and live there because I’m here, I’m safe, I’m here to do my job. I obviously try to separate these things.
“Of course, when I woke up today, I saw it was all over the news. I texted my family if they were OK. This is pretty much all 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 terrible life.”
Svitolina, who is married to retirement-bound French star Gael Monfils, started her Roland-Garros campaign in similarly brilliant form, but quickly fell 4-1 behind Kostyuk in an error-strewn start.
That tardy opening came back to haunt her because she managed to recover the break, only to hand it straight back as her first serve failed her before an errant drop shot handed Kostyuk a 5-3 lead.
Even then, Kostyuk had to save two more break-back points to go up a set, but Svitolina dramatically turned the tables with a dominant second set – including winning all 10 points when she ventured to the net – to force a decider.
The final set was a wild affair.
They traded breaks through the opening five games until the aggressive Kostyuk authoritatively ended that streak with a love service hold for a 4-2 advantage. She lost just one point thereafter in advancing to the semi-finals.
Zverev keeps title hopes alive
Alexander Zverev’s complicated legacy helps explain his underwhelming reaction to reaching a fifth Roland-Garros semi-final.
The German star – the title favourite in the absence of beaten foes Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, plus the injured Carlos Alcaraz – ended Spanish prodigy Rafael Jodar’s hopes of replicating his idol Rafael Nadal’s extraordinary feat of winning the claycourt major on debut as a teenager.
Zverev, who owns the poisoned chalice as the best men’s player without a grand slam title, overcame a 5-2 first-set deficit to eventually steamroll 19-year-old Jodar 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-3 in a masterful performance.
Jodar will rue a nerve-riddled few minutes filled with loose forehand errors as he tried and failed to serve out the first set, which tilted the contest in Zverev’s favour for good.
Asked afterwards whether he was proud of reaching the final four in Paris again, Zverev’s answer was revealing.
“Not really. I don’t really care,” the world No.3 and three-time major finalist said.
“I want to keep going, of course. I want to be in the tournament, and I want to win the matches that are ahead of me – and that’s my goal. I feel like today was a very tough test against a very good player, and I managed, I won, and of course, I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, but for now – that’s it.”
Another emerging star, Czech marathon man Jakub Mensik, stands between Zverev and a second Roland-Garros final.
The 20-year-old, who joins Tomas Berdych, Petr Korda, Ivan Lendl and Jan Kodes as the only Czech men to make it this far in Paris, won a high-octane contest with Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Mensik, who suffered full-body cramps after his near-five-hour second-round triumph over Argentine Mariano Navone, was magnificent against Fonseca, but twice had to rally from down a break in the third set.
Fonseca staved off six match points with spectacular and fearless hitting in a 12-minute game at 5-6 in the third set, including Mensik misfiring on an overhead on the second of them, but he fell behind early in the tiebreak and could not chase his Czech rival down.
This Roland-Garros championship days ago became a land of opportunity for a group of men accustomed to falling short.
One by one, the big names fell in a dramatic opening week, even beyond Sinner and Djokovic. None of top-10 seeds Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur or Alexander Bublik made it beyond the round of 32.
Zverev is sometimes mocked in sections of the tennis world for his comments on where he sits in the men’s pecking order.
After this year’s Madrid final – where Sinner again demolished him – Zverev suggested he sat with Alcaraz and Djokovic in a tier behind the Italian, but well ahead of the rest. The backlash convinced him to clarify his comments in an interview with John and Patrick McEnroe.
“Career-wise, I’m not saying that I’m there. I don’t compare myself to them – I’m not an idiot,” Zverev said on The MacZone.
Zverev is generally not as popular as his peers at the top of the men’s game, at least in part because of domestic violence allegations from two of his ex-partners, both of which were settled out of court without an admission of guilt from the German.
But Zverev’s critics have not forgotten.
They hijacked actor Salma Hayek’s social media posts after she posted a selfie with him after his win over Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong 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 survivors of violence.
Beloved or not, Zverev has never had a better shot at a maiden grand slam title.
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