The second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) for the first time in two years lost before the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament and accordingly ended her remarkable streak of six consecutive rankings for the Top 4 stages of the top tennis tournaments.
The Belarusian tennis player lost in a nearly three-hour drama to the Russian teenage talent Mirra Andreeva with 1-2 (7:6, 4:6, 4:6) in two and a half hours of play.
Mirra Andreeva was the youngest Roland Garros quarterfinalist since Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria), and now she has achieved the most significant victory in her career and can easily dream of her first Grand Slam trophy.
Mirra Andreeva made 43 winners and made only 20 unforced errors, which turned out to be key, because the traditionally aggressive Aryna Sabalenka recorded 40 winners, but also 40 unforced errors. The Russian player even managed to achieve a slightly better performance on the first serve, because this usual strong weapon of her rival did not give her the necessary advantage this time.
Aryna Sabalenka actually took the lead with a break in the third set, but allowed a momentary rebreak, and finally broke on her serve and from the second match point with a beautiful lob, Mirra Andreeva legitimized her victory.
The 17-year-old Russian will face Jasmine Paolini (Italy), who also sprung a surprise in Paris today, eliminating the fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan).
With the elimination of second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka and the fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina, this year’s Roland Garros could not broadcast semi-finalists entirely from the first four tennis players in the scheme. The last time this happened was at Wimbledon in 2009.
