Tennis
2026-05-31 - Marta Kostyuk vs Iga Swiatek
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : French Open Fourth Round
Sunday 31st May 2026 - Scheduled 11am
10am (British Time)
Preview
At the time of writing, the majority of the top WTA players have made it through to the draw with the exception being Elena Rybakina and this Fourth Round match at the beginning of the second week could give the winner a huge boost in confidence.
In fact, some may even believe that the winner of this Fourth Round contest is the favourite to come out of the bottom half of the French Open draw to reach the Final next Saturday.
Marta Kostyuk is the lower Seed and the underdog, but the World Number 15 has reached this career high mark earlier this month after winning eleven straight clay court matches, which meant picking up a couple of titles, including the big WTA 1000 event in Madrid. A decision was made to skip Rome, which began days after Madrid, but that has not curtailed the growing confidence and Marta Kostyuk has won three more matches here to reach the Fourth Round of the French Open for just the second time, and just the fourth time she has managed to do that at Grand Slam level.
The best run remains reaching the Quarter Final at the Australian Open in 2024, but Marta Kostyuk's run to the US Open Fourth Round last year was the first time she had reached the second week of a Slam since that run in Melbourne.
It should be noted that in fourteen clay court wins in 2026, Marta Kostyuk has dropped a ser just four times, while the four wins over top 50 Ranked opponents have come in very impressive manner.
Martak Kostyuk has not had to beat anyone Ranked higher than World Number 82 in her three wins at the French Open, but this time she takes on Iga Swiatek who is a four time former Champion here and someone who has not been beaten before the Quarter Final in any of the last six French Open runs.
The World Number 3 has won all three matches in Paris without dropping a set, but Iga Swiatek's build up for the French Open was far from convincing- a Quarter Final defeat in Stuttgart and a Semi Final defeat in Rome was about as good as it got, but that is a surprise for Swiatek fans when you think of her history on the red dirt.
Much like her opponent, Iga Swiatek has still produced some eye-catching numbers on the clay this season and she has a winning record against top 50 Ranked opponents, although not nearly as impressive as the perfect record held by Marta Kostyuk.
However, it is Iga Swiatek who may hold he mental edge having beaten Marta Kostyuk in all three previous matches on the Tour, even if the last of those was in 2024. It has been the Iga Swiatek serve that has proven to be the difference, although in 2026 Marta Kostyuk will feel she has grown with experience to offer a much tougher test than the routine defeats suffered before.
The closest of the three defeats came back in 2021 at the French Open when Iga Swiatek eventually prevailed 6-3, 6-4, but it was the match where Marta Kostyuk was able to have her most consistent success on the return of serve.
Five years on, the Ukrainian will feel she can do even better with a fourteen match winning run on the clay behind her, but the expectation is that Iga Swiatek will still have a little too much knowhow on this surface and can narrowly cover this spread after a battle.
Prediction
This is a fascinating Fourth Round match at the French Open and both Marta Kostyuk and Iga Swiatek will be playing with some confidence as they head onto the main show court to open up Day 8 at Roland Garros.
Despite the form of the Ukrainian, Iga Swiatek can showcase why she is a four time former Champion in Paris and can edge past Marta Kostyuk.
The Pick :
Marta Kostyuk 0-2 Iga Swiatek
