Marta Kostyuk battled past fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in three sets on Tuesday at the French Open to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final.
Kostyuk, who dumped out four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the last 16, beat Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and goes on to face Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday for a place in the final.
“I’m very happy I found a way. It was very difficult in the first two sets,” said Kostyuk.
The 23-year-old Kostyuk extended her unbeaten run on clay this season to 17 matches. She is bidding for a third title on the surface after wins in Madrid and Rouen.
“I still think it’s very far. I still have two matches to play,” added Kostyuk.
Svitolina fell at the quarterfinal stage at Roland Garros for the sixth time. It is the only major where she has not reached the last four.
Meanwhile, Andreeva outclassed Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3 to book her spot in the semifinals.
The Russian eighth seed needed just under an hour on Court Philippe Chatrier to reach the last four at Roland Garros for the second time in three years.
The crushing win brought to an end a fairytale run for 36-year-old Cirstea, who will retire at the end of the season. The in-form Romanian reached the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time since 2009.
“I knew that this match wouldn’t be easy and I’d have to put 200 percent of my focus to win,” Andreeva said.
“I’m super happy I was able to do it and tried to play aggressive throughout the whole match.”
Source: Khaleej Times