Marta Kostyuk has reached the first WTA 1000 final of her career. The Ukrainian defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 on Thursday in the second semi-final of the Mutua Madrid Open, bringing to a halt the remarkable journey of the first\u00a0lucky loser\u00a0in history to reach this stage in the women\u2019s tournament. The match went through three very distinct phases: Kostyuk\u2019s dominance in the first set, Potapova\u2019s resounding response in the second, and a final surge from the Ukrainian in the third, where the allure of the final cranked up the pressure. Mirra Andreeva will be the last obstacle on her road to what would be the most important title of her career.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s incredible, I\u2019m really proud of how I handled the match, especially after losing my first set of the tournament and so decisively. But I was able to stay focused and turn things around. It\u2019s amazing to reach my first final here in Madrid. It\u2019s a dream”, said the Ukrainian on court immediately after the match. On Saturday, at 23 years of age, she will find herself in the biggest final of her career. Although she briefly wobbled, the world No. 23 regained her balance at precisely the right moment and ended up pulling off some of the finest acrobatics of her career in the Manolo Santana Stadium. But that\u2019s Marta Kostyuk for you \u2013 the Ukrainian learned to fly before she learned to win big matches. As a child, she was a talented acrobat, finishing fourth in the Ukrainian national championships and joining the national gymnastics team. As if she had springs for legs, Marta could launch herself into the air with ease and do there what most people struggle to achieve on the ground. However, at the age of eleven, she swapped pommel horse for tennis court because she wanted to spend more time with her mother, Talina Beiko, a former professional tennis player and coach. That choice, all these years later, has led her to the final in the Caja Magica this week.<\/p>\n
The connection with that stage of her life, though, is more than just anecdotal. Kostyuk often celebrates her titles with a backflip on the court. Last week in Rouen, she forgot to do the trick after winning the second WTA title of her career. She has mentioned it in Madrid and hinted that this would be a good time to revive the tradition. So keep your eyes peeled, if you see some acrobatics on the Manolo Santana clay on Saturday, you\u2019ll know how the final ended.<\/p>\n
Kostyuk\u2019s tennis at this Mutua Madrid Open has been of an astonishing level, allowing her to see off Yulia Putintseva, Jessica Pegula, Caty McNally, Linda Noskova and now Potapova. This is her seventh appearance in the tournament\u2019s main draw, and never has she come so far. Her previous best was the quarter-finals in 2025, where she lost to the eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
Potapova had written one of the stories of the tournament by becoming the first woman to reach the semi-finals in Madrid having entered the draw as a lucky loser. Against Kostyuk, she was chasing her first WTA 1000 final. However, the Ukrainian, looking to make the very same breakthrough, won the encounter to take a 3-2 lead in their head-to-head.<\/p>\n
Kostyuk arrived in Madrid having won in Rouen and now boasts ten consecutive wins on the tour, eleven if you include her victory in the Billie Jean King Cup. After a fruitful spring, she is now second only to Mirra Andreeva for WTA wins on clay in 2026.<\/p>\n
It is Mirra who will await her on the other side of the net in the final. The youngster, who celebrated her 19th birthday by beating Hailey Baptiste, will be playing her third WTA 1000 final after claiming the titles in Dubai and Indian Wells. For her part, Kostyuk, making her debut at this level, will enjoy the added bonus of a ranking boost \u2013 she\u2019s guaranteed to climb to No. 17 in the world, and could go as far as 14th, which would be her highest ever, if she wins the title. There is a lot at stake. Join us at 17:00 on Saturday to find out who takes the spoils in the women\u2019s singles final at the 2026 Mutua Madrid Open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marta Kostyuk has reached the first WTA 1000 final of her career. The Ukrainian defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 on Thursday in the second semi-final of the Mutua Madrid Open, bringing to a halt the remarkable journey of the first\u00a0lucky loser\u00a0in history to reach this stage in the women\u2019s tournament. The match went through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":108968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[837,843],"tags":[1201],"class_list":["post-108972","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\/108972","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108973,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108972\/revisions\/108973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}