A Ukrainian woman will be in the semi-final!

Roland-Garros 2026 offers something unprecedented and moving: a 100% Ukrainian quarter-final, while the country of both players has been at war for more than four years. Svitolina said after her win over Bencic: "There will be a Ukrainian in the semi-finals no matter the outcome of the match, it’s fantastic. The situation is so difficult right now with the war, and it’s important to show the younger generations that anything is possible." Kostyuk, for her part, called Svitolina a "legend of Ukrainian tennis" before adding: "I had never won a set against her before, it’s incredible, I still can’t believe it" after knocking out Świątek. Two compatriots, two warriors, one court. And in the stands of Chatrier, Gaël Monfils has promised his wife he’ll be there for this quarter-final.

Elina Svitolina reaches the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros for the sixth time in her career, matching her best result at Porte d’Auteuil, the only Grand Slam where she has never made the semi-finals. She comes into this match on a ten-match winning streak across all surfaces, including the WTA 1000 Rome title in May, and 15–3 on clay over the last 52 weeks. Her four matches at Roland-Garros outline a consistent pattern: she always finishes strong, winning 7 of the last 10 points against Bondar, Quevedo and Bencic. Against Bencic, she came back from a set down to close it out 4–6 6–4 6–0, with a one-sided third set. Her serve has been her main strength over this fortnight, with 72.7% of break points saved on clay in 2026, and on pressure points on serve she is consistently ahead of Kostyuk: 77% at 30–30 versus 74%, 81% at 40–40 versus 77%, 66% at 40–Ad versus 55%. Against Bencic, she held strong with 4/7 break points saved in a tight match, along with 35 winners.

Marta Kostyuk is 15–0 in 2026, undefeated this season, and has just eliminated four-time champion Świątek 7–5 6–1 in 1h39 in her best match of the fortnight. 65% first serves in, 6/9 break points saved, 6/9 break points converted, 55% won on Świątek’s first serve as a returner, 8 of the last 10 points. A masterclass. On clay in 2026, her dominance ratio at 1.594 is higher than Svitolina’s at 1.133, her breakpoints prevail is 2.125 versus 1.914, and her return is an absolute weapon: 47.2% won on opponents’ first serves, 66.2% on second, 58.6% of return games won compared to 44.1% for Svitolina. On return pressure points, she crushes every metric: 95% at 0–40 versus 87%, 89% at 0–30 versus 68%, 88% at 40–Ad versus 70%. This has been her trademark since Rouen: she converts in the moments when everyone else backs down. The H2H is 1–1, with the most recent going Kostyuk’s way in Toronto in August 2024 on hard courts, 6–2 2–6 6–2. First meeting between the two on clay.