The Cincinnati Open campaign came to a brutal end for Marta Kostyuk as the Ukrainian suffered a one-sided loss against Coco Gauff. The World No.11 could only win four games in the match, resulting in frustration that prompted her to vent her emotions on her racket.
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The incident happened early in the second set. Having lost the first set 6-2, Kostyuk needed to start the second set strong. However, things were not going well for the Ukrainian, who dropped her serve and went 0-2 down early. This is when the frustrations got the better of her, as she smashed her racket on the court aggressively.
Things did not get better for Kostyuk as she went down 0-4 in the second set, with her chances of a comeback being very slim. She did break Gauff’s serve once to get it to 2-4, but the American broke the Ukrainian’s serve again to take the set 6-2 and complete the win.
Kostyuk’s frustrations have merit as the Ukrainian was not in her usual rhythm, especially on her serve. She was broken six times in the match and won only two service games. It is fascinating that Kostyuk lost only nine points on her first serve, yet she landed only 67 percent of her first serves. It was the second serve that let her down, as she could only win seven of the twenty-four points behind her second serve.
Even though racket smashing is a common scene in tennis, Kostyuk usually stays away from such incidents. However, interestingly enough, exactly two years ago, the Ukrainian smashed a racquet during her Round of 16 match against Iga Swiatek at the Cincinnati Open.
One of Kostyuk’s biggest on-court confrontations was a verbal altercation with the chair umpire in her match against Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid last year. The Ukrainian had an argument with the umpire, who had given the Belarusian an extra first serve after the match resumed once the roof was closed in the rain.
One could argue that Kostyuk’s frustrations in the Gauff match in Cincinnati came from the increased expectations on her shoulders, given the form that the Ukrainian is in this year.
2026 Is Turning Out To Be Positive For Marta Kostyuk
Winning 33 of her 41 matches, Marta Kostyuk is having her best outing on the Tour in 2026. There is still a decent number of tournaments left in the calendar, and she has already secured the second-most victories in a single season in her career, behind the 35 wins she had in 2019, which mostly included ITF and Challenger tennis.
Kostyuk gave an early hint of her form when she beat players like Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva, and Amanda Anisimova to reach the final in Brisbane, where she lost to Sabalenka. Her subsequent hard-court results were nothing special, but she came into her own during clay-court season, winning 17 matches in a row, which saw her win titles in Rouen and Madrid and reach the semifinals at the French Open, where her streak was stopped by eventual champion Mirra Andreeva.
Going on grass, Kostyuk showed that she had the ability to adjust and improvise her shot-making, which saw her reach the semifinal at SW19, where once again she lost to the eventual champion, Linda Noskova. The recent hard-court results have been decent enough for the Ukrainian, as she fought to a three-set loss against Iga Swiatek in the Canadian Open and had wins over the likes of Sofia Kenin and Mirra Andreeva during her quarterfinal run in Cincinnati.
The results for Kostyuk have come as a result of a developing partnership with her coach, Sandra Zaniewska, which has been a three-year project, involving tactical adjustments and mental conditioning that has made the Ukrainian a potent threat on the court. Given that she is No.11 in the rankings, Kostyuk will aim to have a deep run at the US Open, which might give her a debut in the Top 10.