Marta Kostyuk beat compatriot Elina Svitolina to reach her maiden Grand Slam semifinal.
According to Super Sport, the 15th seed, overcame Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, on Tuesday, June 2, to become the first Ukrainian woman to reach the last four at Roland Garros in the professional era.
Kostyuk has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia. Her home country was hit by hundreds of Russian drones and dozens of missiles early on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people.
She said, " I want to start with this historic match that we played today with Elina. We had another difficult night in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv where so many people died, so I want to give this match to Ukrainian people and to their resilience.”
Kostyuk who is now unbeaten in 17 matches on clay this season had also dedicated her opening-round win to Ukraine, hours after her family home narrowly avoided being struck by a missile.
She also paid tribute to her countrywoman saying, “And of course, I want to point out Elina and her incredible impact on Ukrainian tennis, on Ukrainians and on me. Everyone who's watching, she's an unbelievable fighter. I'm so happy to be in the semifinals, but I want to thank her again for this incredible match."
Kostyuk will now face Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who thumped Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3, in the semifinals on Thursday for a place in the final.
