Unexpected outcomes persisted at the 2026 French Open on Sunday as the third-seeded Iga Świątek was defeated by the fifteenth-seeded Marta Kostyuk in consecutive sets, 7-5, 6-1.
Świątek, a victor of the French Open on four occasions, experienced her quickest exit from Roland Garros since 2019, during what was merely her second significant competition. She faced elimination in the fourth round before making a comeback to secure her initial Grand Slam championship in Paris the subsequent year.
Compounding the disappointment, Świątek’s loss occurred on her twenty-fifth birthday. Entering the French Open as the world’s third-ranked player, she has not claimed any tournament victories this season. Her next challenge involves defending her Wimbledon championship in late June.
Kostyuk, at 23 years old, has maintained an undefeated record on clay courts this season, having triumphed at both the Madrid Open and Rouen Open earlier in the year. Nevertheless, her historical head-to-head against Świątek stood at 0-3, with Kostyuk failing to secure even a single set, a record that included a previous loss at the 2021 French Open.
“I’m still in shock to beat such an unbelievable player who won four times here,” Kostyuk said after the match, via the BBC. “I woke up this morning and I just thought about what an unbelievable day I have to live today to play on Chatrier against Iga.”
Marta Kostyuk maintained dominance for the entirety of the encounter, demonstrating her authority with formidable serves and strong returns. Iga Świątek hampered her own performance by frequently failing to hold her serve and consistently hitting her forehand returns out of bounds in the initial set.
Świątek’s challenges with her serve persisted into the second set; meanwhile, Kostyuk regularly secured points through precise returns and exhibited exceptional net defense, often leaving the four-time victor poorly positioned. After Świątek secured the opening game, Kostyuk proceeded to claim the subsequent six.
Kostyuk’s self-assurance mounted as it grew increasingly clear that Świątek was not performing optimally. During a pause between sets, she demonstrated her composure by dancing to the music broadcast through the arena’s public address system.
For the quarterfinal round, Kostyuk is slated to compete against the seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina, who bested the eleventh-seeded Belinda Bencic on Sunday with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Świątek represents the most recent top-ten seeded player, across both the male and female brackets, to be knocked out of the current year’s French Open prior to reaching the quarterfinal stage.
Among the women competitors, the fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula experienced an unexpected loss in the initial round, and the second-seeded Elena Rybakina faced elimination in the subsequent round. This was succeeded by the fourth-seeded Coco Gauff, the incumbent French Open titleholder, and the sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova both being defeated in the third round.
Regarding the men’s bracket, the sixth-seeded Daniil Medvedev and the ninth-seeded Alexander Bublik were ousted in the first round, while the fifth-seeded Ben Shelton encountered an unexpected setback in the second. The third round witnessed the astounding eliminations of the top-seeded Jannik Sinner, the third-seeded Novak Djokovic, and the eighth-seeded Alex de Minaur, marking a remarkably astonishing 2026 tournament at Roland Garros.
