{"id":680802,"date":"2026-07-08T17:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680802\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:52:11","slug":"marta-kostyuk-and-linda-noskova-roar-into-their-first-wimbledon-semi-finals-wimbledon-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680802\/","title":{"rendered":"Marta Kostyuk and Linda Noskova roar into their first Wimbledon semi-finals | Wimbledon 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot has been made of how open\u00a0the women\u2019s draw is \u2013 even before the \u00addefending champion, Iga Swiatek<\/a>, and the world\u2019s top two, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, fell in the first week<\/a>. But sometimes it pays to be aware of the in-form \u00adplayers, \u00adwhoever they are, and so it was no surprise to see Marta\u00a0Kostyuk and Linda Noskova march into the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Kostyuk, the Ukrainian 12th seed who reached the semi-finals at the French Open last month, crushed the\u00a02024 runner-up, Jasmine \u00adPaolini, 6-3, 6-2 on Centre Court while the 21-year-old Noskova, seeded ninth, saw off Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 7-5 to make it 10 wins out of 11 on grass this year.<\/p>\n

Kostyuk was at her devastating best as she ripped through Paolini, crushing 19 winners, many of them on her blistering forehand return, one of which was clocked at 96mph. She served brilliantly, losing three points on serve in the first set and did not face a break point,\u00a0while she broke twice in each set.<\/p>\n

Her outstanding athleticism, born of her experience in \u00adgymnastics as a young girl, was on show as she retrieved numerous balls that might have been winners against anyone else, before turning defence into\u00a0attack.<\/p>\n

No one has more wins in 2026 than Kostyuk and though she did not play a warm-up event on grass she showed no sign of that against \u00adPaolini, \u00admaking a mockery of this being her debut on Centre Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, hello \u00adCentre Court, first time \u00adplaying on this incredible court,\u201d she said. \u201c\u00adWinning here was not even in plans, I just wanted to come out here and put on a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her coach, Sandra Zaniewska, insisted she check out the venue beforehand, visualising what she would experience. It proved to be a wise move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God my coach made me walk here yesterday,\u201d Kostyuk said. \u201cI was flabbergasted by this entrance. I needed one day to recover from what I saw.<\/p>\n

Linda Noskova has won more grass-court matches than anyone in the past two years. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher\/Action Plus\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on this court as a \u00adspectator once nine years ago watching Roger [Federer]. It was so special. I made like a walk of honour on the Centre\u00a0Court [on Tuesday], took a moment and soaked it all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Kostyuk, Noskova was appearing in her first quarter-final here, but continued her brilliant grass-court form. She has won more matches on grass (18) than \u00adanyone in the past two years and her big serve and powerful ground strokes were too much for Mertens.<\/p>\n

The Belgian, a six-time grand slam winner in doubles, was \u00adbroken once in each set as Noskova reached the last four of a grand slam tourna\u00adment for the first time. With \u00adKarolina\u00a0Muchova taking on Coco\u00a0Gauff in the other semi-final on Thursday, there is a distinct possi\u00adbility of a first all-Czech final and a sixth Czech women\u2019s winner, following Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna, Petra Kvitova, Marketa \u00adVondrousova and Barbora\u00a0Krejcikova.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe feelings are incredible, like never before,\u201d Noskova said. \u201cThis is what I\u2019m playing for, these big matches, big stages, big courts. It\u2019s a special feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little bit \u00adnervous before the match. Usually, when I am feeling a little \u00adnervous it means I care a lot. I was really \u00adenjoying this match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kostyuk and Noskova, who are now 10th and 11th in the live \u00adrankings, have faced each other once before, with the Ukrainian winning in Madrid in May. That, though, was on clay, and Noskova\u2019s run to the title in Berlin last month, where she beat Alexandra Eala and then Jessica Pegula in the final, will give her confidence.<\/p>\n

With temperatures expected to be 33C on Thursday, the heat could also be a \u00adfactor. \u201cI\u2019m sure people are happy with the weather in London, but not us on court,\u201d Kostyuk said. \u201cBut I\u2019m just happy to be back out here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot has been made of how open\u00a0the women\u2019s draw is \u2013 even before the \u00addefending champion, Iga…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-680802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}