Former champion Iga Swiatek crashed out of Roland Garros in an outright shock

Iga Swiatek’s 25th birthday celebrations turned into a nightmare at the French Open on Sunday. The former champion’s bid for a fifth Roland Garros title collapsed in the last 16 when she lost 7-5, 6-1 to Ukrainian 15th seed Marta Kostyuk.

At first, little separated them in the opening exchanges as they traded breaks twice. However, Kostyuk established a crucial hold in the 11th game before raising her game to clinch the first set with a superb backhand cross winner.

It was the first time Kostyuk had beaten the third-seeded Pole after three straight defeats in previous encounters. The Ukrainian took advantage of the momentum and broke early in the second set to lead 3-1.

Marta Kostyuk threw her hands in the air the moment she beat Iga Swiatek to reach her first Roland Garros quarter-final. Playing the tennis of her young life, she stood on the clay to soak it all in.

With this stunning upset, Kostyuk extended her flawless record on clay to a perfect 16-0 this season. After Swiatek’s shock loss, it is now guaranteed that there will be a brand new Roland Garros champion in both the men’s and women’s singles draws this year.

After the match, an emotional Kostyuk shared a beautiful insight into what the win meant to her beyond just the scoreboard.

“I don’t play tennis to win. I play tennis because I love it. I want to connect with people. I want to make people happy and connect them,” she said.

Kostuk now advances to the highly anticipated quarter-finals with either seventh seed Elina Svitolina or 11th seed Belinda Bencic.

– The end

Issued by:

Amar Panicker

Published on:

31 May 2026 16:50 IST