Marta Kostyuk celebrates her maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid after defeating Mirra Andreeva in the final. Photo: AFP/FILE
MADRID:
Marta Kostyuk defeated Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 to win the Madrid Open for the first time on Saturday.
It was world number 23 Kostyuk’s first trophy at WTA 1000 level and her second title of the season.
She became only the second player outside of the top 20 to win the Madrid Open, in her third final of an impressive 2026 thus far.
“It feels unbelievable to stand here right now,” said Kostyuk, holding the trophy.
“It took me many years to reach this point and the one word I think about right now is consistency — showing up every day no matter how hard it is, no matter how much you love or hate what you do.
“I’ve been doing that really well (over) the past years I think, so I’m very proud of myself and my team.”
Kostyuk won when she met Andreeva in Brisbane earlier this year in their only prior meeting, and both have since enjoyed stellar starts to the clay-court swing.
The Ukrainian secured the first break to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set, with world number eight Andreeva struggling to handle her opponent’s superior power.
The 23-year-old Rouen Open winner spurned her first set point with a double fault but captured the second when Andreeva went long.
The Russian, who became favourite to win the tournament after Aryna Sabalenka was eliminated, made too many mistakes in the first set and Kostyuk was only too happy to take advantage of them.
Playing in her first WTA 1000 final, Kostyuk broke in the first game of the second set with Andreeva volleying into the net.
However, the 19-year-old broke back with a fizzing return down the line to tie at 1-1.
The players exchanged breaks again in the fourth and fifth games, before Kostyuk showed great resilience to save two set points and hold for 5-5.
Andreeva double faulted to give her opponent a 6-5 lead and the chance to serve for the title.
Kostyuk opened up three championship points and spurned the first two but triumphed when Andreeva sent a backhand long, collapsing to the floor in joy.
“Of course I would like to congratulate Marta, for how your clay season is going so far as well, you won two tournaments in a row, so you’re playing very well, so congrats for the win today,” said Andreeva, who could not hold back tears.
It was her third WTA 1000 final and her first defeat in one as she was unable to add to the 500 titles she won in Adelaide and Linz earlier this year.
