Kostyuk Sweeps Past Paolini to Reach First Wimbledon Semifinal, With History in Sight

As recently as early June, Marta Kostyuk had never been past the quarterfinal stage at a Grand Slam. Six weeks on, the No. 12 seed has now made the final four at two majors in a row — and she is one victory away from a landmark moment for Ukrainian tennis.

Kostyuk booked her place in her first Wimbledon semifinal on Wednesday, dispatching Italy's Jasmine Paolini in straight sets on Centre Court. In doing so she matched the deepest run any Ukrainian has managed at the All England Club, drawing level with Elina Svitolina, a two-time semifinalist at the tournament.

Leaning on her heavy groundstrokes and standout movement, Kostyuk grabbed the match's first break in the fifth game of the opening set and stayed in front from there, breaking again in the ninth game to close the set 6-3. The second set played out along the same lines: breaks in the fourth and eighth games sealed a 6-3, 6-2 win in just 69 minutes, in what was her first career appearance on Centre Court.

Her serve was never seriously threatened. Kostyuk did not face a break point all match and was taken to deuce only once across her eight service games, while cashing in four of the eight break-point chances she generated on Paolini's serve.

"For sure it was a very good match. Happy with the performance. I think I did well tactically. It's never easy to go out for the first time on Centre Court. I didn't know how I'm going to handle this and how I'm going to perform. So happy with everything," Kostyuk said.

Paolini, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2024, never found her range, ending the day with 26 unforced errors against just eight winners. Kostyuk's numbers were far steadier: 19 winners alongside 19 unforced errors.

The result extended a remarkable stretch of form — Kostyuk has now won 21 of her past 22 tour-level matches, 10 of them at the majors.

"I think I worked on a lot of things for a long period of time. I cannot point out something that was like one thing. I feel like tennis is very complex sport, so you cannot separate something that you change and that's it. I feel like just being more consistent from day to day is definitely bringing the results. Just overall consistency in how I feel and how I am," she said of the surge.

The 24-year-old now has the chance to become the first Ukrainian ever to contest the Wimbledon women's singles final — an achievement she acknowledged would carry weight far beyond the sport, with the war at home never far from her mind.

"I'm hoping it would mean a lot. It was really tough for me last week when the first big attack happened. Then on Monday they ruined like four streets of residential buildings. It was like five kilometers away from where my parents live. It's not easy. I tried to be aware of everything that's going on. Of course, I try for these things not to influence me too much. Every day is different. I cope with it as it goes," she said.

Standing between Kostyuk and a maiden Grand Slam final is No. 9 seed Linda Noskova. Kostyuk holds a 1-0 edge in their head-to-head after beating the Czech in straight sets in the Madrid Open quarterfinals in May.