Kostyuk reaches French Open semis, faces Russian Andreeva amid war backdrop

The emotional weight of that result now falls directly onto Thursday’s semi-final, where Kostyuk will meet Russia’s Mirra Andreeva. Andreeva reached the last four by beating Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3, setting up a match that carries obvious sporting stakes and an unavoidable political charge. Kostyuk has already beaten Andreeva twice on tour, including in the Madrid final last month, but the meeting in Paris now sits inside a far larger story than their head-to-head record.

Kostyuk’s reaction to Tuesday’s win was shaped by the night Ukraine had just lived through. A large-scale Russian drone-and-missile strike killed at least 18 people and injured more than 100, with Kyiv among the hardest-hit areas. That reality has followed Ukrainian athletes onto the court for four years now, and Kostyuk, one of the most outspoken Ukrainian players on the circuit, made clear that the result was not just personal. She said she was dedicating the victory to the Ukrainian people and their resilience.

The wider women’s draw has also highlighted how deeply the sport remains entangled with the war. Aryna Sabalenka, Anna Kalinskaya, Diana Shnaider and Andreeva all came from Russia or Belarus, and none has publicly criticised the Russian government. Ukrainian players have continued their practice of not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian opponents since the 2022 invasion, a small but enduring sign that the normal etiquette of elite tennis has not survived the conflict intact.