{"id":108790,"date":"2026-04-29T21:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/?p=108790"},"modified":"2026-04-29T21:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:57:41","slug":"kostyuk-extends-winning-streak-to-break-new-ground-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/kostyuk-extends-winning-streak-to-break-new-ground-in-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Kostyuk extends winning streak to break new ground in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marta Kostyuk joked earlier this week about how long it took her to figure out how to play her best in Madrid\u2019s altitude and unique clay-court conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ukrainian made her tournament debut in 2018 and won just one match in her first five main draw appearances before she finally found her footing and reached the quarter-finals at the Caja Magica last year.<\/p>\n

This season she is doing even better as she stormed into her second career WTA 1000 semi-final and first in the Spanish capital with a 7-6(1), 6-0 performance against Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Kostyuk has yet to drop a set this fortnight, which saw her notch some impressive victories, including one over fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the round of 32.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions in Madrid are very tricky. It took me seven years to learn how to play here. So I\u2019m happy to have that experience behind my back,\u201d Kostyuk said with a laugh, speaking on the Tennis Channel after her win over Pegula.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 26th\u00a0seed is certainly playing like a natural out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

The victory against Noskova was Kostyuk\u2019s 10th consecutive victory, building on a win at the Billie Jean King Cup followed by a title run in Rouen on the eve of the Mutua Madrid Open.<\/span><\/p>\n

Undefeated on clay so far this season, Kostyuk admits this streak has taken her by surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds unbelievable. If someone told me a few weeks ago that it would happen, I probably wouldn’t believe it, but I’m very thankful for it,\u201d\u00a0she said after punching her ticket to a semi-final meeting with Anastasia Potapova.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The quarter-final was a tale of two contrasting sets. The first featured a combined eight breaks of serve \u2013 four from each player \u2013 and saw both players struggle on serve in cooler temperatures on Manolo Santana Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Kostyuk caught fire in the breaker and never looked back from then on, sweeping the second set in commanding fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Kostyuk created 23 break point opportunities on Noskova\u2019s serve throughout the match, converting seven of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contrary to the opening set, Kostyuk faced zero break points and dropped just one point on serve throughout the entire second frame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Linda is such a powerful player, and I just tried to stay in the point, and conditions were incredibly difficult today for both of us,\u201d Kostyuk explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very windy, very cold, and I felt like we started to gain some points only towards the end of the first set, and I think we weren’t sure where the ball was going sometimes. But, yeah, I’m very happy, and obviously I did my strategy today very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling confident and carrying an impressive winning streak, Kostyuk is doing everything possible not to overthink as she enters the business end of the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to focus so much on the streak. It never happened to me before, obviously, but I just try to focus on the things that I can control and just do the work,\u201d she told the Tennis Channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause when I start to focus on the result or on the outcome, I start to get more nervous just because they\u2019re things I cannot control. So I naturally become more nervous.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly just try to stay as detached as I can when I don\u2019t play matches \u2013 only when I practise or play an actual match, because the tournaments are so long right now that I really try to forget sometimes that I came somewhere for the tournament and just rest and enjoy my time off the court and really focus only when I have to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kostyuk, who practised acrobatics for seven years as a youngster, became famous on the tour for performing backflips after her wins.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve seen one from the athletic Ukrainian but she plans on celebrating with a backflip if she clinches the title in Madrid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I think if I make it to the finals, I will actually practise it before, because I don’t remember last time I did it. Maybe I’m already too old, you know? But I will practise, I promise,\u201d she assured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marta Kostyuk joked earlier this week about how long it took her to figure out how to play her best in Madrid\u2019s altitude and unique clay-court conditions. The Ukrainian made her tournament debut in 2018 and won just one match in her first five main draw appearances before she finally found her footing and reached […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":108791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[837,843],"tags":[1201],"class_list":["post-108790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-tenis-en","category-noticias-tenis-femenino-en","tag-marta-kostyuk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108794,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108790\/revisions\/108794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}