Kostyuk surprises and eliminates Swiatek at Roland Garros: "I'm in shock"

Iga Swiatek's 25th birthday celebrations ended badly at Roland Garros this Sunday (31), when the former champion lost 2 sets to 0, 7-5 and 6-1, to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, 15th seed.

The quest for a fifth title came to an end just as Swiatek seemed to be rediscovering his best form.

Swiatek's shock defeat comes amid a chaotic period at Roland Garros, in which men's world number one Jannik Sinner, 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and defending women's champion Coco Gauff have all been eliminated in the last three days.

With that, world number one Aryna Sabalenka remains the favorite to win her first title in Paris, although Kostyuk is one tennis player to keep an eye on as she looks to maintain the momentum that has helped her shine on clay this season.

"I'm still in shock," Kostyuk said in an on-court interview.

"I feel like I gave myself more space to just create something, to challenge my opponents. I woke up in the morning and all I thought was, 'What an unbelievable day I have to live today... there's nothing I could do other than that'. I try not to focus on winning or losing, because I don't play tennis to win. I play tennis because I love it," he added.

How the duel went
In the first moments of the match, the two players played a balanced game, exchanging service breaks twice.

However, Kostyuk managed to hold serve in the 11th game and raised his level late to close out the first set with a right cross winner.

It was the first time that Kostyuk managed to win a set against the Polish third seed, after three consecutive defeats in previous clashes, and she sensed a big surprise when she took a 3-1 lead in the next set, after a hard-fought match.

The Rouen and Madrid champion kept her cool from there to take her clay record this season to 15-0 and secure a meeting with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, seeded seventh, or Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, seeded 11th, in the next round.

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Source: CNN