Mirra Andreeva beats Marta Kostyuk to reach the first Grand Slam final of her career
Mirra Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam final on June 4, 2026, after defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 in the Roland Garros semifinal on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The 19-year-old Russian tennis player produced one of the most mature matches of her career so far, setting the pace from the start and not allowing the Ukrainian player to regain the rhythm that had carried her through the Paris tournament. According to the Associated Press report, Andreeva converted her first match point while serving for victory, and the contest ended without the customary handshake at the net. After the defeat, Kostyuk quickly left the court, turning only to salute the crowd, among whom Ukrainian flags could be seen. In that way, the sporting outcome also gained a strong political context that has accompanied matches between Ukrainian tennis players and Russian and Belarusian opponents since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dominance from the first game
The 6-1, 6-3 scoreline clearly reflects the balance of power in the first semifinal of the women’s singles tournament. Andreeva took control of the rallies early, played solidly from the baseline and read the direction of play better in the key moments. Kostyuk, who before the semifinal had been one of the most consistent players of the clay-court season, failed to develop the aggression with which she had beaten opponents of different profiles in the previous weeks. Every attempt by the Ukrainian to shorten the points was met by a calm response from Andreeva, who reliably returned the ball deep into the court and forced her opponent to play additional shots. In that rhythm, the advantage quickly turned into scoreboard control, and the first set ended without real drama.
The second set offered somewhat more resistance, but not a turnaround. Kostyuk tried to raise the level of her serve and speed up her forehand, but Andreeva maintained the balance between patience and attack. According to WTA’s official previews before the match, Kostyuk entered the semifinal with a positive head-to-head record against Andreeva and a victory in the Madrid 2026 final, which gave this encounter additional tactical and psychological importance. Precisely for that reason, the impression from Paris carries special weight: Andreeva not only earned the biggest match of her career, but also changed the narrative of a matchup in which her opponent had previously held a clear advantage. Her performance was cool-headed, with no visible drop in concentration and no panic in the closing stages.
Marta Kostyuk’s major streak ended
The semifinal defeat ended Marta Kostyuk’s 17-match winning streak, a fact highlighted by the official Roland Garros website after her quarterfinal triumph against Elina Svitolina. Kostyuk reached the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career in Paris and, according to Roland Garros, became the first Ukrainian tennis player to reach the semifinals of the Paris tournament in the Open Era. Her path to that stage included an emotional quarterfinal against compatriot Svitolina, which she won 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. That match carried sporting significance, but also a broader symbolic charge because the two Ukrainian players met at a time when the war in their country remains a constant backdrop to their appearances. After that victory, according to a Roland Garros post, Kostyuk said she was dedicating the match to the Ukrainian people and their resilience.
Her form on clay had been one of the most important themes of the tournament. According to an official Roland Garros article published during the first week of the tournament, Kostyuk arrived in Paris after winning back-to-back titles in Rouen and Madrid, including the first WTA 1000 title of her career in the Spanish capital. It was precisely in Madrid that she beat Andreeva in the final, so the Paris semifinal was also a replay of one of the most important duels of the spring season. Before the semifinal, the WTA stated that Kostyuk had been unbeaten on clay at that stage of the season, which further underlines how convincing Andreeva’s victory was. Although the Ukrainian tennis player arrived in Paris with great momentum, in the semifinal she failed to find enough stability to continue the streak.
The biggest breakthrough for the young finalist
For Andreeva, reaching the Roland Garros final is the biggest result of her senior career so far. In its semifinal preview, the WTA recalled that she had already achieved significant results in Paris: she played in the semifinal in 2024, and the following year reached the quarterfinal. Still, advancing to the final in 2026 represents a new level, especially because of the way she got there. In the quarterfinal, according to Roland Garros’ official review, she defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3 in less than an hour, and then in the semifinal confirmed once again that the Paris clay suits her. The combination of early initiative, patient defense and precise attack was enough to stop a player who had been on the best streak of her career in the previous weeks.
This result also has a generational dimension. Roland Garros 2026 in women’s singles produced a scenario in which it was certain that Paris would get a new Grand Slam champion, because none of the semifinalists had won a title on the biggest stage before the tournament. According to the WTA, Diana Shnaider and Maja Chwalinska meet in the second semifinal, so after defeating Kostyuk, Andreeva awaited the winner of that match. The very fact that the closing stages featured players still seeking their first major title shows how much the women’s tournament in Paris opened up after the elimination of bigger favorites. For Andreeva, who already had experience in the latter stages of Roland Garros, the key difference this time was that she turned the semifinal into a controlled performance rather than a missed opportunity.
Political backdrop and absence of a handshake
The match between Andreeva and Kostyuk was more than a sporting contest because it was played in the context of the war in Ukraine and long-standing tensions on the tennis scene. The Associated Press reported that there was no handshake after the match and also described an unusual scene before the start of play: the players did not pose together for a joint photograph, but were photographed separately, each on her own side of the net. Such scenes are not an exception in matches between Ukrainian tennis players and players from Russia and Belarus. Ahead of the semifinal, ABC News recalled that Kostyuk has long refused handshakes with Russian and Belarusian opponents, and in Madrid she also did not take part in the customary joint photograph with Andreeva.
During the tournament, Kostyuk spoke several times about the impact of the war on her life and career. According to the Roland Garros article after her first-round appearance, the day before the match was marked by news of an attack near her family home in Kyiv, which the tennis player described as an emotionally extremely difficult experience. After her victory over Svitolina, ABC News reported that she had spoken about another difficult night in Ukraine and civilian casualties, and before the semifinal she criticized Russian athletes who, in her opinion, do not take a sufficiently clear position on the war. Andreeva, according to the same report, responded to a question about a possible encounter with a Ukrainian opponent by saying that she tries to focus on the ball, the game and the match plan. Such statements show how difficult it is to completely separate sporting preparation and political reality in matches like these.
Neutral status and the broader tennis framework
On May 8, 2026, the International Tennis Federation confirmed that its position on the suspensions of the Russian and Belarusian tennis federations remained unchanged, despite the International Olympic Committee’s messages at the time regarding Belarusian athletes. In practice, tennis in recent seasons has maintained a model under which Russian and Belarusian players can compete in individual professional events, but without national symbols, while the national teams of those countries remain outside ITF team competitions. This is the framework in which Grand Slam matches such as this one in Paris are also played, where the sporting result does not erase the political sensitivity of the contest. For organizers, such matches require careful management of protocol and communication, and for the players they often mean facing questions that go beyond tennis. The absence of a handshake is therefore not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern that has been repeated on the Tour since the beginning of the war.
That is precisely why the Andreeva-Kostyuk semifinal will be remembered for two parallel layers. On one side stands the sporting fact that the young Russian tennis player reached her first Grand Slam final and stopped one of the longest winning streaks of the season. On the other side remains the image of a match without a joint photograph and without a handshake, which once again showed the audience that international sport does not exist outside the political context. Kostyuk left the tournament after the best Grand Slam result of her career, but also after a match in which she failed to carry over the form from the previous rounds. Andreeva, meanwhile, heads into the final with the biggest victory of her career and the chance to win her first major title in Paris at just 19 years old.
What the final means for Roland Garros
The Roland Garros 2026 women’s final will produce a new Grand Slam champion, something the WTA had already highlighted in its preview of semifinal day. For a tournament often marked by the dominance of established champions, such an outcome opens space for a new generation and different stories. Andreeva reached the closing stages as the eighth seed, with experience of deep Paris runs, but without a previous final at this level. Her victory over Kostyuk showed that she can withstand the pressure of a major match, control an emotionally charged encounter and maintain discipline at a moment when every point carried added weight. In the final, she will face a different tactical challenge, but her semifinal performance gave her the strongest possible argument that she can handle the role of title contender.
For Kostyuk, the defeat will be painful, but it does not erase the weeks in which she made the biggest breakthrough of her career. A 17-match winning streak, titles before Paris and a historic semifinal for Ukrainian tennis confirm that in 2026 she reached a level that places her among the key players of the clay-court season. According to the available information, after the semifinal there was no official confirmation of possible injuries or another reason for the weaker performance, so the outcome can mostly be explained by Andreeva’s tactical clarity and better execution of the plan. Roland Garros thus gained a finalist who played her cleanest match at the most important moment, while Kostyuk remained one step away from a final that would have further strengthened the symbolism of her Paris journey.
Sources:
- Associated Press – report from the Andreeva – Kostyuk semifinal, result, absence of a handshake and separate photography before the match (link)
- Roland Garros – official review of quarterfinal day, details on Kostyuk’s victory over Svitolina, the 17-match winning streak and Andreeva’s victory over Cirstea (link)
- WTA – Roland Garros 2026 semifinal preview, head-to-head records, players’ form and the context of a final with a new Grand Slam champion (link)
- Roland Garros – official article on Kostyuk in the first round, her form on clay, titles in Rouen and Madrid and statements about events in Ukraine (link)
- ABC News – context of political tensions, Marta Kostyuk’s statements ahead of the semifinal and the practice of refusing handshakes with Russian and Belarusian opponents (link)
- International Tennis Federation – official confirmation of the position on the suspensions of the Russian and Belarusian tennis federations (link)