Ukrainian Kostiuk and Romanian Ruse win three-hour thriller to reach Australian Open quarterfinals

Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk, paired with Elena-Gabriela Ruse, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2025.

Source: Champion, a sports news platform within Ukrainska Pravda’s holding company

Details: The Ukrainian-Romanian duo outperformed Hanyu Guo (China) and Alexandra Panova (neutral flag), securing victory with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10-7).

Their opponents were seeded 12th, but this did not intimidate the Kostiuk-Ruse duo, who had already eliminated Ellen Perez (Australia) and Elise Mertens (Belgium), seeded 6th, in the previous round.

Kostiuk and Ruse demonstrated their confidence in the first set, beating their opponents 7-5. The second set was equally competitive, but Marta and Elena missed opportunities to convert their break points while their opponents managed to break serve.

The intense competition continued in the third set, which led to a tiebreaker. Marta and Elena got off to a great start, leading 3-1. They maintained a two-point advantage for a long time, which helped ease their nerves and exert pressure on their opponents, ultimately becoming the deciding factor in their victory.

Australian Open 2025

Melbourne, Australia, hard court

Round of 16, women’s doubles

Prize fund: US$59.8 million

Marta Kostiuk (Ukraine)/Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Romania) – Hanyu Guo (China)/Alexandra Panova (neutral flag)

The match lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes. Kostiuk and Ruse served 5 aces but made 8 double faults. They converted 4 out of 13 break points.

Their opponents served 1 ace and committed only 3 double faults. Impressively, they converted 4 out of 5 break points.

Additionally, Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok are set to play their round of 16 doubles matches today. Nadiia, paired with Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, will face Siniaková and Townsend. Meanwhile, Liudmyla, playing alongside Hao-ching Chan (Taiwan), will compete against Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai for a spot in the quarter-final.

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