{"id":779982,"date":"2026-07-04T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/779982\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T14:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:56:12","slug":"kostyuk-tops-navarro-twirls-into-wimbledon-fourth-round-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/779982\/","title":{"rendered":"Kostyuk Tops Navarro, Twirls Into Wimbledon Fourth Round \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, July 4, 2026
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill\/Getty<\/p>\n

Wimbledon\u2014Grass-court tennis has been a slippery slope for Marta Kostyuk.<\/p>\n

Facing a third-set stress test against nemesis Emma Navarro today, Kostyuk charged through the finish line like a woman running downhill fast.<\/p>\n

An energized Kostyuk raced through 11 consecutive points in the decider, defeating Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to advance to the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Closing in style, Kostyuk drilled a forehand drive volley right off the sideline to convert her fourth match point then twirled around like a ballerina in a power pirouette as the Court No. 2 crowd roared in appreciation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought in my life I\u2019d reach the fourth round here,\u201d said Kostyuk, who had not won a grass court match since the 2024 Wimbledon prior to her SW19 arrival last week. \u201cNo matter what the result, the most important thing is to enjoy it 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success reinforces Kostyuk\u2019s connection with the pleasure of playing.<\/p>\n

Roland Garros semifinalist Kostyuk has won 19 of her last 20 matches and has now registered fourth round or better results at all four Grand Slams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The victory vaults the 13th-ranked Kostyuk into a fourth-round meeting with either Ukrainian compatriot Daria Snigur, who knocked off two-time semifinalist Elina Svitolina in round one, or American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, who defeated 2024 semifinalist Donna Vekic in her main-draw opener. Kostyuk, who improved to 25-5 on the season, is now on the verge of a maiden Top 10 appearance, rising to No. 11 in the live rankings<\/a>, just 194 ranking points behind current No. 10 Victoria Mboko, who withdrew from Wimbledon due to a knee injury she suffered at Queen\u2019s Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Major marches are about match-ups and Navarro had been a nightmare opponent for Kostyuk winning all four of their prior meetings, including collecting eight of the nine total sets the pair had played before.<\/p>\n

After Kostyuk beat Mirra Andreeva to win Madrid in April, she famously celebrated with a backflip.<\/p>\n

Applying her athleticism, Kostyuk played periods of proactive all-court tennis today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 12th-seeded Ukrainian converted four of five break points and torched some down the line returns winning 26 of 36 points played on Navarro\u2019s second serve.<\/p>\n

The 23rd-seeded Navarro saved a couple of break points in her opening service games. Even at 2-all, Kostyuk held at 15 then drilled a forehand down the line to break for 4-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That sparked a five game surge that saw Kostyuk claim the opening set and go up 1-0 in the second.<\/p>\n

Exhorted on by three fans wearing New York Knicks jerseys, Navarro was striking the ball with more conviction as the second set progressed.<\/p>\n

Reading the direction of her opponent\u2019s volley, Navarro swooped across the court and roped a running forehand pass down the line for a pair of break points. Handcuffed by a crackling return, Kostyuk dropped serve for the only time as Navarro went up 5-4.<\/p>\n

On her fourth set point, Navarro drew a netted backhand to force a final set after 71 minutes of play.<\/p>\n

Exuding urgency, Kostyuk was often up off her chair and bouncing out onto the grass before the chair umpire even called \u201ctime\u201d to end the changeover.<\/p>\n

One the fastest players on tour, Kostyuk applied her speed\u2014and exploited a lapse from the American, who bunted a drop shot into the bottom of the net to surrender serve and fall behind 0-2.<\/p>\n

Throwing down a smash, Kostyuk held at love for 4-1 then angled off a sharp backhand volley to break at love for 5-1.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Kostyuk improved to 16-1 vs. opponents ranked outside the Top 20 this season and will ride a 16-match winning streak vs. non Top 20 opponents into the fourth round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, July 4, 2026Photo credit: Clive Brunskill\/Getty Wimbledon\u2014Grass-court tennis has been a slippery slope for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-779982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779982","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=779982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}