Diana Shnaider serves up another seismic shock
For anyone who was wondering whether the surprise results had dried up at Roland-Garros this year, they hadn’t.
Wednesday delivered one of the biggest yet as world No.1 and overwhelming title favourite Aryna Sabalenka’s game unravelled in the Chatrier breeze and her opponent Diana Shnaider adapted better to the testing conditions to move into her first Grand Slam semifinal.
It was looking like business as usual when Sabalenka led by a set and 5-3, but then inexplicably lost the last 10 games of the match to crash out 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 to the world No.23.
While Shnaider went off to prepare for Thursday’s semifinal against Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska - another remarkable story served up on Day 11 - Sabalenka was left to try to make sense of a shattering defeat.
“I guess mentally I got into a very deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn't get back mentally on track,” the four-time Grand Slam champion admitted.
“I don't know when was the last time that happened to me, that I lost 10 games in a row.”
The Chatrier schedule had begun with another crazy Roland-Garros story as world No.114 Chwalinska beat No.22 seed Anna Kalinskaya 7-6(3), 6-3 to become only the second qualifier to reach the women’s semifinals in the Open era.
RG’s Alex Sharp was in the pressroom when the 24-year-old met the media afterwards and crafted a piece tracking her journey from promising junior to a Grand Slam semifinalist.
Italy are guaranteed a men’s finalist after contrasting quarterfinals involving three of their players.
First, No.10 seed Flavio Cobolli came back from a set and 3-1 down to beat fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets for his first major semifinal and a debut in the top 10 in the next ATP ranking list.
On Friday, he will face Matteo Arnaldi who was leading the night match when opponent Matteo Berrettini suffered yet more injury heartache as he was forced to retire with a damaged hip while trailing 7-5, 5-2.
“Hopefully the scans are going to be clear and they can tell me what I have,” a downbeat Berrettini said in press.
With Sabalenka’s defeat there will be a new Grand Slam champion crowned in both singles draws, and former world No.5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga talked to Dan Imhoff about the difficulty of dealing with the pressure that comes with such a huge opportunity.
The stars of wheelchair tennis were back out for the second day of competition and Dutchman Niels Vink made a solid start in windy conditions by beating Britain’s Andy Lapthorne.
Vink told Chris Oddo that he is focused on one match at a time as he aims to win his fourth successive quad singles Grand Slam title.
It’s a quick turnaround in the women’s singles as both semifinals headline the Day 12 order of play, and we’ll also be handing out some silverware on Thursday as Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori play Canadian-American team Gabriela Dabrowski and Evan King in the mixed doubles final on Chatrier at 12 noon.
To prepare for the women’s semifinals read Alix Ramsay’s preview of the opening match at 3pm local when No.8 seed Mirra Andreeva tackles in-form Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
ROLAND-GARROS
17 May - 6 June 2027
