The 2024 Paris Olympics continues at Roland Garros with Marta Kostyuk up against Donna Vekic. Damien Kayat previews.
2024 Olympic Games
Paris Olympics
Roland Garros
Selected quarter-final match – 31 July
Marta Kostyuk 11/10 | Donna Vekic 7/10
Marta Kostyuk
One of my pre-tournament dark horse picks, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk needed to dig deep to come back from a set down in what was a chaotic third-round tie with Maria Sakkari.
Playing in swelteringly hot conditions, Kostyuk and Sakkari played out an error-strewn slugfest that wasn’t always the easiest on the eye (a combined total of 59 winners to 102 errors tells you everything you need to know).
In fact, both players won more points on return than on serve, with the players combining for an incredible 21 double faults. Kostyuk served 13 of them and that stat is going to need to improve if she harbours any dreams of pinching a medal this year.
But you have to admire Kostyuk’s ability to win ugly. Kostyuk never dropped a set in her first two matches, playing with a fluidity that eluded her in the Sakkari clash. But the uber-athletic Kostyuk always has a chance of surviving three-set grind-fests (she is arguably one of the top three movers on tour).
The result improved Kostyuk’s impressive 2013 record to 26-13 (8/4 on clay). This has been a fantastic breakthrough season for the versatile Kostyuk.
She defied expectations with a spectacular semifinal run at the Aussie Open and she hasn’t looked back since. She finished runner-up at San Diego before reaching her maiden clay-court final in Stuttgart (where she also finished runner-up).
That run in Stuttgart- coupled with a semifinal run on the notoriously sluggish Indian Wells courts – gave us an indication of what Kostyuk is capable of on slower surfaces. She went through a significant dip during the latter portion of the clay-court swing and into the grass.
But she took some time out after SW19 and she appears revitalized this week. These slow surfaces should suit her game to perfection. As I said, she moves spectacularly, and players will get frustrated trying to hit through her. She is a wildly inventive shot-maker who can switch fluidly between offence and defence.
Donna Vekic
Donna Vekic just produced arguably the biggest surprise of the tournament, taking down No.2 seed Coco Gauff in a highly controversial straight-sets victory.
The Croatian saved two match points in an opening tiebreak before clinching the first set. The match then devolved into chaos after the umpire awarded a contentious point to Vekic midway through the 2nd set (granting Vekic the break).
Gauff was incandescent with rage, brought to tears in a conspiracy-laden rant that became a bit embarrassing to watch. To her credit, Vekic retained a steely composure throughout the incident, ultimately winning the match off the back of a dominant serving performance (she won 76% of her first-serve points).
In the process, Vekic became the first Croatian woman to reach the Olympic quarterfinals since 1996.
This has been both a surprising and unsurprising run for Croat Donna Vekic. It’s been surprising in the sense that Vekic has never been well-suited to clay-court tennis.
Vekic looks to play first-strike tennis, leaning on a strong serve and flat groundstrokes to pulverize opponents. It’s little wonder that most- actually all – of her success has come on faster surfaces. None of her 13 WTA finals have come on clay.
Furthermore, she has never gone beyond the 4th round of the French Open (and that run came all the way back in 2019). But now to the unsurprising part of this result: her form.
Vekic has been on an absolute tear since the start of the Bad Homburg Open, producing arguably the best little period of tennis in her entire career. She finished runner-up in Bad Homburg before a sensational semifinal run at SW19. She is 12-2 in her last three tournaments and she is yet to drop a set this week.
The Verdict: Kostyuk to win in three 4/1
Vekic leads the head-to-head 1-0, crucially beating the Ukrainian in straight sets at this year’s French Open. As I have said previously, Kostyuk was in the middle of a real dip during that period and I’m willing to forgive her slightly underwhelming Roland Garros performance.
Kostyuk has beaten some high-quality opponents this year (Pegula, Gauff and Vondrousova). Furthermore, those victories against Gauff and Vondrousova came on the Stuttgart clay.
Vekic might take charge in the early stages but Kostyuk’s immense athleticism should see her grow as the match progresses.
