US Open: Kostyuk returns to the second week at the one major that has never given her a quarter-final

Marta Kostyuk has reached the semi-finals at Roland-Garros and at Wimbledon this year. The US Open remains the only Grand Slam where she has never gone beyond the fourth round, and she is back in it, beating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-2 on Friday evening.

Kostyuk, who beat American wild card Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5 and Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-1 in the opening rounds, plays the winner between American No. 29 seed Ann Li and Czech No. 6 seed Linda Noskova, the Wimbledon champion.

The Ukrainian No. 11 seed, playing at her career-high ranking, had lost both her previous meetings with Alexandrova, in Rome in 2021 and in a three-set match at Portoroz in 2022. This one took an hour and change and never turned.

It is her second consecutive fourth round here, after losing at the same stage to Karolina Muchova last year, and it continues a season that has already produced two titles and a breakthrough (Rouen, Madrid).

Against top-20 opponents she is 10-7 this season, from eighteen meetings.

Alexandrova, the No. 18 seed, had beaten Australian Kimberly Birrell 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 and American McCartney Kessler 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round. She was a fourth-round player here last year too, losing to Iga Swiatek.

US OPEN 2026, women’s singles, round 3

A. Sabalenka [1] d. K. Rakhimova: 6-3, 6-4
T. Townsend vs D. Shnaider [15] – not played
M. Kostyuk [11] d. E. Alexandrova [18]: 6-3, 6-2
A. Li [29] vs L. Noskova [6] – not played
J. Pegula [3] vs L. Fernandez [31] – not played
S. Cirstea [16] d. J. Paolini [19]: 6-3, 6-3
E. Svitolina [9] vs A. Kalinskaya [21] – not played
E. Navarro [26] vs K. Muchova [7] – not played
M. Andreeva [5] vs N. Bartunkova – not played
A. Potapova [24] vs A. Anisimova [10] – not played
I. Jovic [14] vs A. Eala [17] – not played
C. Bucsa vs C. Gauff [4] – not played
I. Swiatek [8] vs M. Bouzkova [25] – not played
M. Keys [22] vs Q. Zheng (Q) – not played
N. Osaka [13] vs E. Mertens [23] – not played
Y. Starodubtseva vs E. Rybakina [2] – not played