World Number one Aryna Sabalenka threw away a winning position to crash out of the French Open against Diana Shnaider after a remarkable collapse in windy conditions in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.
The top seed was cruising going a set and 4-1 ahead but only won one more game as she fell – somewhat inexplicably – to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to her Russian opponent who reached the semi-finals for the first time and registered the biggest win of her career.
“Honestly I am speechless,” said Shnaider on court afterwards. “Super happy, obviously. Today was tough conditions with the wind. The first time playing in an arena – super nervous. So definitely a lot of nerves.”
Sabalenka appeared firmly on course for victory after taking the opening set 6-3 and moving into a commanding 4-1 lead in the second. The Belarussian had not dropped a set throughout the tournament and looked set to continue her march towards a maiden French Open title. However, Shnaider refused to fold and gradually turned the contest on its head.
The 25th seed began finding greater depth and consistency from the baseline, forcing Sabalenka into a series of costly errors. As the pressure mounted, the top seed’s normally reliable power game deserted her as the wind picked up.
The centre court crowd on Philippe Chatrier were stunned into silence as Sabalenka lost a sequence of twelve games out of thirteen. After the match, Shnaider spoke more on her tactics during the contest and her feelings after winning:
“The first set was trying to adjust to her game, trying to figure out how to play. I feel like I was trying to focus point by point. Not thinking about the score. She is the world number one, so I just trying to do my best. I just had to fight for every point. Definitely a super special win. I feel like in the third set I finally found my rhythm and how to play and where to be a bit more. The third set was the one I should be aiming for from the beginning. Super happy to finish on a good note. Super special tournament for me here.”
The wind is now becoming a serious problem for Aryna Sabalenka who lost last year’s final against Coco Gauff. Her game style is based on big crunching groundstrokes but in windy conditions she will need to find solutions and play with more margin – as well as fighting mental demons – if she wants add more Grand Slam titles to her name.
While the men’s draw has seen Jannik Sinner depart as top seed, the women’s draw is now also wide open with Sabalenka’s latest shocking defeat.
Meanwhile, qualifier Maja Chwalinska continued her fairytale run at the French Open by beating Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
Ranked outside the world’s top 100 at the start of the tournament, Chwalinska produced another composed display on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, overcoming early nerves and difficult conditions to secure the biggest victory of her career. The 24-year-old became only the second female qualifier in the Open Era to reach the French Open semi-finals and guaranteed herself a place inside the world’s top 30, as well as guaranteeing a cheque for almost £650,000.
Kalinskaya looked the more aggressive player in the opening set but struggled to find consistency in the windy Paris conditions, allowing Chwalinska to edge a tense tie-break. With momentum firmly on her side, the Pole broke early in the second set and never looked back, frustrating her opponent with intelligent shot selection and relentless defence. Kalinskaya’s error count continued to rise as Chwalinska closed out a memorable straight-sets victory after one hour and 48 minutes.
“Definitely very challenging,” said Chwalinska after her win. “The conditions were very tough. It was very windy today. You just need to be very focused, extra focused in these kind of conditions. I feel like what I did well was just stay calm when there was, 5-1 up and Anna, I think she started to play much more aggressive, and it was 5-all. I’m just very proud that I stayed composed, and managed to win this set. Then the second set was just a battle. So, I’m very happy, happy to win.”
