Mirra Andreeva took the first set 6-1 against Marta Kostyuk in the French Open semi-finals, seizing early control of a match that had promised to be a clay-court shootout.
The result put Mirra Andreeva — the Russian eighth seed and the highest-ranked player left in the women's draw — squarely in the headlines: by the radio commentary she had pushed to within two points of victory and was serving for the match.
Commentator Mark Woodforde praised Andreeva's composure, saying her game had looked measured and efficient as she forced errors at key moments. Woodforde noted a costly mistake by Kostyuk that effectively handed Andreeva the chance to serve for the match, and said Andreeva had broken back to move one game away as the pressure mounted.
The sharpness of the opening set is the more striking because of who Kostyuk is: she arrived in the semi-final on a 17-match unbeaten streak on clay and had beaten Andreeva in the Madrid final last month. That recent history should have favoured Kostyuk, yet Andreeva raced through the first set 6-1.
Even so, the match kept swinging. Woodforde described moments when Kostyuk carved her way back into rallies — a celebrated forehand winner and a gritty third point at 15-30 — and said Kostyuk's ability to come underneath the ball and generate spin had troubled Andreeva. At times the Ukrainian produced what the commentator called "some wizardry," and seemed to find a route back into the contest before her hopes were described as hanging by a thread again.
The back-and-forth carried distinct signs of tension: Kostyuk's clay form and her Madrid title showed she was no simple underdog, while Andreeva's status as the highest-ranked remaining player and her clinical opening set underlined why she is favoured in the late stages. Woodforde repeatedly returned to the same themes — Andreeva's calm, the damage done by a costly error, and Kostyuk's bursts of brilliance — painting a picture of a match balanced on small margins.
Beyond the semi-final itself, the women's draw still had one other path to the title to be settled: Diana Shnaider was due to play Maja Chwalinska after the Andreeva–Kostyuk coverage, with Shnaider looking to back up her quarter-final win over world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Chwalinska attempting to become the first qualifier since Emma Raducanu in 2021 to reach a Grand Slam singles final.
Andreeva's 6-1 first set and the radio account that she had moved two points from victory leave the central question open and urgent: with Kostyuk's streak and recent Madrid victory still standing as proof she can recover, will Andreeva close the match and claim the place in the final, or will Kostyuk find one more swing of momentum to overturn the scoreline? The answer will decide which of them advances from the semi-final into the championship match.
