The women’s singles semifinals are on Thursday in Paris.
This is the first Major since 1977 with no Major champions advancing to the semifinals in either men’s or women singles, meaning we are guaranteed to see two new Major champions crowned this weekend in Paris. Thursday’s women’s semifinals feature four young players looking to complete the biggest achievement of their careers.
In a match between two of the best clay court players of 2026, 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva faces 23-year-old Marta Kostyuk. And in a match between two extremely surprising semifinalists, 22-year-old Diana Shnaider plays 24-year-old qualifier Maja Chwalinska.
Day 12 also features the championship match in mixed doubles, at 12:00pm local time: Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori (1) vs. Gabriela Dabrowski and Evan King. The top-seeded Italians have won three of the last six Majors in mixed doubles, with Errani winning six more Majors in women’s doubles, as well as an Olympic gold medal two years ago on these same grounds. Dabrowski is a two-time Major champ in mixed doubles, and a two-time Major champ in women’s doubles, while King’s best Major result came as the runner-up to Errani and Vavassori at this same event a year ago, when he teamed with Taylor Townsend.
Marta Kostyuk (15) vs. Mirra Andreeva (8) – Not Before 3:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
This is a second Major semifinal for Andreeva. Her first came two years ago in Paris, when at the age of 17, she lost 6-3, 6-1 to Jasmine Paolini. The Russian is 34-9 during 2026, and 20-3 on clay. Mirra started this clay court season by winning a title in Linz, and just a few weeks later, advanced to the final of Madrid, where she lost in straight sets to Kostyuk. During this fortnight, Andreeva has dropped only one set, and comfortably claimed all 10 other sets she’s played, including in a 6-0, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Sorana Cirstea.
Kostyuk is 22-4 on the year, and a perfect 16-0 on clay. After winning titles in both Rouen and Madrid, the Ukrainian skipped Rome to rest a few nagging injuries. She’s lost two sets to this stage, including to fellow countrywoman Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals. This is Marta’s first Major semifinal, and she has never looked more confident and composed on court. She credits much of that to her coach Sandra Zaniewska, who is a former player herself, and one of the only female coaches on tour.
Kostyuk is 2-0 against Andreeva, with the aforementioned win in this year’s final of Madrid, as well as another straight-set win at the beginning of this year in the quarterfinals of Adelaide. In the Madrid final, Kostyuk protected her serve well, winning 71% of first serve points, and 60% of second serve points. And most crucially, she converted all four of her break point opportunities.
Based on Kostyuk’s 16-match win streak, as well as her two prior victories over Andreeva, I favor the Ukrainian to prevail on Thursday. To have a real chance at earning her first victory over Kostyuk, Andreeva will need to serve well, and use her patented backhand to end points. But as we’ve seen many times in big matches, Andreeva can get tight somewhat easily, as well as quite emotional.
Diana Shnaider (25) vs. Maja Chwalinska (Q) – Last on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Shnaider played some scintillating tennis to oust World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday. Sabalenka was just two points from winning the match when serving for it at 5-4 in the second set, yet Schnaider would win the last 10 games of the match to close out the biggest victory of her young career. Diana was just 11-6 this season before arriving in Paris, and just 5-4 on clay. She also required three sets to overcome another Major champ, Madison Keys, in the round of 16. However, that’s another match where Shnaider ran away with the third set by a score of 6-0.
Chwalinska has joined 2020 semifinalist Nadia Podoroska as the only two qualifiers to reach the Roland Garros semifinals in the Open Era. This is only her third appearance in the main draw of a Major, with a previous record of 1-2. And she had never been ranked inside the world’s top 100. But as she outlined during her press conference on Wednesday, after upsetting Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets, Maja has felt much more comfortable on court since taking a mental health break a few years ago. Since returning to competition, she claimed three WTA 125-level titles, all of which came on clay. She’s dropped only one set through eight matches to reach this semifinal, which includes qualifying.
Their only prior encounter took place four years ago on clay in Istanbul, where Shnaider won 6-4, 6-4. She’ll be the more powerful and experienced player in this semifinal, and after watching the way she closed out both Keys and Sabalenka, I favor Schnaider to achieve her first Major final. But if she gets nervous as the big favorite in this matchup, that could leave room for the variety of Chwalinska to frustrate Shnaider, and draw errors out of the Russian.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
