Paris, May 29 (IANS) Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine maintained her brilliant run on clay and at Roland Garros on Friday with her 4-6, 3-6 victory over Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland that sends the 21-year-old into the fourth round of the French Open for the second time in her career.

The 15th seed delivered another assured performance on the Parisian clay to make it 15 wins in a row on the surface and a demonstration of the way she has been gathering pace this successful European clay court season. Kostyuk was coming into Paris with back-to-back titles at Rouen and Madrid, where she landed the biggest prize of her career so far.

Her latest victory will set up a dream fourth-round match against four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, rekindling the rivalry of the last 16 match at this tournament in 2021, which was won by the Polish number one in straight sets.

Swiatek sealed her own place in the second week in straightforward fashion, dispatching compatriot Magda Linette 4-6, 4-6, and showed again just how comfortable she is on clay during her pursuit of a fifth French Open crown.

Kostyuk has been one of the form players of the WTA Tour on this clay swing; her relentless aggression from the back of the court and improved calmness have propelled her into the latter rounds, and her match against Swiatek should be one of the headline matches of the women’s draw.

Elsewhere in the women’s singles, the talented qualifier Wang Xiyu from China was continuing a fine run when overcoming Yuliia Starodubtseva from Ukraine 3-6, 5-7 to march into the last 16 without dropping a set.

Novak Djokovic was also due to take centre stage in the men’s draw, taking on Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca. This was a day after world number one Jannik Sinner’s shock defeat. Sinner actually served for the match twice in the third set.

Second seed Alexander Zverev was due to take on the French wildcard Quentin Halys in the evening session; it remains the only Grand Slam title to elude the German, whilst there was also an encounter between Andrey Rublev and Nuno Borges as the race for second week berths in the men’s singles began to intensify.

–IANS

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