Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk has secured her place in the quarterfinals of the prestigious Madrid Open WTA 1000 tournament with an impressive straight-sets victory over Anastasia Potapova on the Spanish clay courts.
The 24th-seeded Ukrainian, currently ranked 36th in the world, dismantled her Russian opponent 6:3, 6:2 in just 1 hour and 22 minutes, showing remarkable consistency throughout the match. Kostyuk's performance featured five successful service breaks while surrendering her own serve just once.
The match wasn't without drama, however, as Kostyuk suffered a frightening moment in the fifth game of the second set when she fell and scraped her knee. The incident required nearly 10 minutes of medical attention to stop the bleeding, after which she briefly lost her service game before regaining her composure to close out the match confidently.
This victory evens the head-to-head record between the two players at 2-2 and marks Kostyuk's continued strong form in Madrid, where she has already eliminated notable opponents including Emma Raducanu and Veronika Kudermetova in earlier rounds.
With this win, Kostyuk becomes just the second Ukrainian player to reach the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open, following in the footsteps of her compatriot Elina Svitolina, who also advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Maria Sakkari.
According to Statbet's tournament analysis, Kostyuk has shown tremendous improvement on clay this season, winning 73% of her return points against top-40 opponents.
Looking ahead, Kostyuk faces her toughest test yet as she prepares to battle world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. History favors the Belarusian star, who holds a 2-0 advantage in their previous encounters at Dubai in 2022 and Roland Garros in 2023. Sabalenka advanced after eliminating American Peyton Stearns in her fourth-round match.
