Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk stuns top-10 opponent, sets Wimbledon milestone
Photo: Marta Kostyuk (Getty Images)
Ukraine's top-ranked player, Marta Kostyuk, continued her impressive run at Wimbledon 2026 by defeating American Emma Navarro in a grueling third-round (Round of 32) match. The 24-year-old from Kyiv battled through three sets to reach the second week of the prestigious Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Breaking the "Navarro curse": How the match unfolded
Before this match, Kostyuk (World No. 13) had faced Navarro (World No. 26) four times - and lost every meeting.
That made the third-round clash significant not only for the tournament but also on a personal level. Navarro, who had already eliminated another Ukrainian, Yuliia Starodubtseva, earlier in the tournament, entered the match with a perfect head-to-head record against Kostyuk.
But this time, the Ukrainian came determined to rewrite the script. The match lasted 1 hour and 44 minutes, with Kostyuk claiming a hard-fought three-set victory.
Kostyuk came out firing, playing aggressive tennis and serving confidently. After the players traded games early in the opening set, the Ukrainian reeled off four straight games from 2-2 to take the set 6-2 in just 32 minutes.
The second set also started in Kostyuk's favor as she moved ahead 2-1 and appeared to be in control. However, Navarro fought back, turning the set into a back-and-forth battle. The score remained tight until 5-5, when the American raised her level and closed out the set 7-5, forcing a decider.
In the third set, Kostyuk showed remarkable composure. She gave Navarro no chance, racing to a 3-0 lead before cruising to a dominant 6-1 victory.
The statistics reflected Kostyuk's superiority. She hit two aces to Navarro's one, struck nine winners compared to the American's five, and committed just five unforced errors - half as many as Navarro's 10.
Career-best Wimbledon run and a possible all-Ukrainian clash
Reaching the Round of 16 marks Kostyuk's best-ever result at Wimbledon. She had previously exited in the third round in both 2023 and 2024. Overall, this will be the fifth time in her career that she has reached the second week of a Grand Slam.
Earlier in this year's tournament, Kostyuk defeated Argentina's Nadia Podoroska (World No. 574) before staging a dramatic comeback against neutral player Anna Blinkova in the second round.
Her next match could produce a historic all-Ukrainian showdown. Kostyuk's potential Round of 16 opponent is fellow Ukrainian Daria Snigur (World No. 77), who is set to face American Ashlyn Krueger later today, July 4.
Snigur already produced one of the tournament's biggest upsets by defeating Ukraine's longtime No. 1 and World No. 8 Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-2 in the first round. It was Snigur's third career victory over a top-10 WTA player.
Now, Ukrainian fans eagerly await Snigur's result to see whether Wimbledon will deliver a historic all-Ukrainian battle for a place in the quarterfinals.
