{"id":705818,"date":"2026-05-31T12:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T12:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705818\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T12:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T12:59:12","slug":"four-time-champion-swiatek-out-as-french-open-continues-to-deliver-shocks-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705818\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-time champion Swiatek out as French Open continues to deliver shocks | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swiatek handed straight-sets defeat by Ukraine\u2019s Marta Kostyuk in the round of 16 a day after Gauff\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n

Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026<\/p>\n

Iga Swiatek\u2019s 25th birthday celebrations turned sour at the French Open as the former champion was ousted by Ukrainian 15th seed Marta Kostyuk in straight sets in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Bidding for a fifth Roland Garros title, Swiatek went out 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday, following a round of shock exits at this year\u2019s tournament in the French capital.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s world number one Jannik Sinner<\/a>, 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and defending women\u2019s champion Coco Gauff<\/a> have all gone out in the last three days, while Swiatek\u2019s exit was followed by a loss for China\u2019s number one Wang Xinyu.<\/p>\n

\"Poland'sSwiatek was the latest big-name exit at Roland Garros [Julien De Rosa\/AFP]<\/p>\n

It leaves world number one Aryna Sabalenka the favourite to claim her first title in Paris, though Kostyuk will be one to watch as she builds the momentum that has helped her sparkle on clay this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still in shock,\u201d Kostyuk said in an on-court interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve given myself more space to just create something, to challenge my opponents. I woke up in the morning and all I thought was \u2018what an unbelievable day I have to live today \u2026 there\u2019s nothing I could do other than this\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to focus at all on winning and losing, because I\u2019m not playing tennis to win. I\u2019m playing tennis because I love it. I want to connect to people, I want to feel this energy \u2026 make people happy and unite people.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little to separate the duo in the early exchanges as they twice traded breaks, before Kostyuk came up with a tight hold in the 11th game and raised her level at the end to claim the opening set with a backhand crosscourt winner.<\/p>\n

It was the first time that Kostyuk had taken a set off the third-seeded Pole after three straight defeats in their previous meetings, and she sensed a big upset when she went ahead 3-1 in the next set after a battling effort.<\/p>\n

The Rouen and Madrid champion held her nerve from there to take her record on clay this season to 15-0, and book a meeting with seventh-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina or 11th-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic in the next round.<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine'sKostyuk celebrates after winning [Anne-Christine Poujoulat\/AFP]<\/p>\n

Later, Romanian \u2060\u2060veteran Sorana Cirstea proved \u2060\u2060that dreams have no expiry as she beat Xinyu 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach her first Roland Garros quarterfinal in 17 years.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old, who \u2060\u2060is retiring at the end of the season, advanced to the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam for just the third time in her career.<\/p>\n

It will be her first quarterfinal in the French capital since 2009 \u2013 the longest \u2060\u2060gap between the first two quarterfinals at a women\u2019s singles major in the Open Era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought there is no expiry date for ambition and for dreams. I have so much passion for this sport,\u201d Cirstea said after her victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love tennis and to be able to still play at this level \u2013 have my family, my team, the \u200c\u200cclosest people watching me \u2013 it\u2019s an absolute joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes society puts us in certain groups because of the age. But I think in life, you are free to do whatever you want and I want to play. And here I am, thank you everyone for all the support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Romania'sRomania\u2019s Sorana Cirstea celebrates her victory [Alain Jocard\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swiatek handed straight-sets defeat by Ukraine\u2019s Marta Kostyuk in the round of 16 a day after Gauff\u2019s ouster.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,3456,637,457,82,593],"class_list":["post-705818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}