Marta Kostyuk, the No. 23 in the world, has won the first Masters 1000 of her career by beating 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the final on the red clay of Madrid. The Ukrainian was riding an unprecedented 10-match winning streak on clay, and she did not falter on the biggest stage. The initial set was easily won 6-3. Andreeva retaliated in the second, leading 3-1, yet Kostyuk immediately responded and sealed the set 7-5.
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The title run of Kostyuk was among the most powerful in the recent memory of Madrid. She defeated the fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the round of 32, and went on to beat the 13th seed Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals, and lost only one set throughout the whole tournament. In the case of Andreeva, the final step was one too far – but the way she was treated in the immediate aftermath was soon a story in itself.
The 19-year-old, who was crying, was sitting courtside a few seconds after the last point and had a towel over her face. She had just lost the biggest final of her nascent career. She had to take a break. Instead, she received a WTA communications staff member who came up to her nearly right away, seemingly in an attempt to inform her about the upcoming trophy ceremony – logistics, presentation order, what to do next. The images circulated quickly. So did the reaction.
Former Australian tennis player Renna Stubbs was direct. “The WTA comms person going up to Mirra and trying to tell her stuff about the presentation and blah blah blah while she’s crying in her towel one minute after she lost. Oh my god, honey, please give her a minute!”
Poor Andreeva multitasking: crying, texting and listening to the WTA PR telling her what's next with the trophy ceremony.
Stephanie Myles, one of the sport’s most prominent tennis journalists, captured the absurdity of the moment with a single line: “Poor Andreeva multitasking: crying, texting, and listening to the WTA PR telling her what’s next with the trophy ceremony.”
The blame is not on the specific employee of the organization, who was certainly carrying out an order that was passed down the chain of command. It is knowingly addressed to an institutional mindset that places more emphasis on ceremony logistics than plain human decency at a time when all that was needed was patience. A 19-year-old had just lost a Masters 1000 final in tears. The presentation can be delayed for a few minutes.
Andreeva wrote out her score, took the award of second place, and conducted herself with the dignity she has shown all week. The optics of the WTA at that point, though, were considerably less than composed.
This win was a huge deal for Kostyuk, as reflected in her celebration after the victory. After the championship point, she fell on her knees with her hand over her face in disbelief and then threw herself in a back handspring on the red clay of the Caja Mágica – one of the more iconic trophy moments Madrid had ever witnessed in years.
“A very special two weeks here,” Kostyuk said during the trophy ceremony. “If you look at the stats, up until last year I think I was 2-7 in Madrid, so I never thought I would be able to lift the trophy here. It was not my favourite tournament, for sure.”
It was the freeing of someone who had long borne a heavy burden. The win made her the first Ukrainian-born player to win a WTA 1000 title since the event was inaugurated in 2017, and only the seventh player born in the 2000s to win a WTA 1000 title. It also extended her run of 11 matches on her clay-court run and gave her back-to-back titles after her victory in Rouen in April.
In her post-match speech, she thanked her team with words that captured exactly how difficult the journey had been: “It took me many years to reach this point. I think only we know how much we went through and how many times I wanted to give up, but you kept me afloat, you pushed me to keep going. That’s why I’m here today.”
Imago
Magda Linette Vs Marta Kostyuk – Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers. Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine competes in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers, women s singles tennis match against Poland at the PreZero Arena in Gliwice, Poland, on April 10, 2026. Gliwice Poland PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xMarcinxGolbax originalFilename:golba-magdalin260410_np7XR.jpg
A single layer of the final, which was left substantially un-discussed, not left undetected: Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Andreeva after the match, and had long held the view of refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Andreeva respected her opponent’s wishes without comment and walked straight to the chair umpire after the final point. It was handled with dignity by both – the burden of something far bigger than tennis, and carried silently through a tennis match.
Mirra Andreeva dries her tears and refocuses on doubles
For the Russian, the defeat was her second in a WTA 1000 final. She is 19. The runner-up finish will move her one place up to world No. 7 in the world rankings on Monday and two places up to No. 4 in the race to the WTA finals. By any objective standard, the week was a success – deep runs, memorable wins, a final appearance on the largest clay court event outside Roland Garros.
And she was not done. Mirra Andreeva could find something to cling to, even through the tears, even through the WTA communications briefing, which became a talking point in itself.
“The tournament is still not over,” she said. “So I’m going to try to go for it in doubles tomorrow as well.” She and partner Diana Shnaider were scheduled to contest the doubles final against Katerina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend on Sunday.
The image of the ninth seed crying, texting, and internalizing a trophy-ceremony briefing at the same time will be washed away. What will be left is the image of a 19-year-old who reached a Masters 1000 final, handled an emotional loss calmly, and immediately shifted her attention to the next opportunity. The WTA’s communications protocol, in its turn, could use a sixty-second review.
