Paris's Queen of Clay Dethroned: Kostyuk Eliminates Swiatek

A legend closed at Court Philippe-Chatrier. Iga Swiatek, the unquestioned queen of clay who has lifted the trophy in four of the last six years at Roland Garros, said farewell to the tournament with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline against 15th-seed Marta Kostyuk on Sunday. The Polish star was a player who had reached the fourth round in each of her first eight participations in Paris — one of six women to do so in the Open Era. The story written this Sunday at Chatrier was the day that streak also ended.

The first set looked to be favouring Swiatek for a long time. The Polish champion went ahead with an early break; a tense-looking Kostyuk was not particularly stable on her forehand strokes. But the atmosphere the Ukrainian player has created on clay this year was different; she came back, took the break back, and when the set reached 5-5 she showed Chatrier's spectators a new picture. Using her break-point opportunities, Kostyuk converted one of her set chances with a fiercely struck cross-court backhand and closed the set with a 7-5 result. The first set, which lasted over an hour, became one of the critical moments that set the tone of the match.

In the second set, Swiatek's balance broke. Kostyuk took three of the first four games and inflicted the great shock with a 4-0 lead. The Polish star, struggling with a total of 17 unforced errors, turned into a picture we have never seen in Paris in recent years. Kostyuk, on the contrary, made only four simple errors throughout this set and broke down Swiatek's baseline rhythm — considered her strongest weapon — with her deep strokes. The 6-1 score appeared on Chatrier's scoreboard at the end of the 1-hour-39-minute match.

The most striking detail behind this result is Kostyuk's season story. The Ukrainian player has been unbeaten since the day she entered the 2026 clay-court season: along with her Rouen, Madrid and Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier victories, her streak has now extended to 16 matches. She became the second woman to win 16 consecutive matches on clay since WTA rankings began — the first was Justine Henin, in 2005. This parallel is a fact that gives Kostyuk courage; the Belgian also won Paris that season. Kostyuk also reached the quarter-final for the first time in Roland Garros history and cleared the four-year 0-3 table against Swiatek (she had not taken a single set in any of the three previous meetings, the last being a 6-3, 6-3 loss in the 2022 RG fourth round).

On Swiatek's side, the difficulties that have existed since the beginning of the season exploded this Sunday. After losing to Magda Linette in Miami, the Polish star had parted ways with her coach Wim Fissette and brought in Rafael Nadal's former coach Francisco Roig to her team. While Coco Gauff beat Swiatek in last year's final to lift the cup, the Polish star was searching for her old comfort on the court this season. Her historical 43-3 record at Roland Garros leaves behind only Chris Evert and Steffi Graf in the Open Era; but that picture regressed to 43-4 after this Sunday. The Pole later spoke with eyes welling up at the press conference: "Marta played better than me today, I have to trust my own form."

The decisive aspect of the match is this: Roland Garros 2026 will now be the year the cup is lifted by a new women's champion. Aryna Sabalenka emerges as the tournament's biggest name after defending champion Coco Gauff also fell to Potapova 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 on Saturday — Swiatek had lifted the cup in four of the last six years, Gauff had beaten Sabalenka in last year's final, and now both are out. Kostyuk will now face the winner of the fourth-round match between 28th seed Anastasia Potapova and 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-final. Russian-born Potapova, who switched to Austrian citizenship in December 2025, had eliminated Gauff in a two-hour-37-minute marathon on Saturday night, writing the defending champion's worst Roland Garros result since her 2020 debut. The Ukrainian player summarised this historic moment at the press conference: "I cried a lot because of her in previous matches, today I didn't cry."

🖼️ Image: Kostyuk celebration on clay — rolandgarros.com