Mirra Andreeva, an unseeded 17-year-old from Russia, surprised No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 at the French Open on Wednesday to become the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist since Martina Hingis at age 16 in 1997.
“I tried to play brave,” the 38th-ranked Andreeva said from Paris. “And I managed to win.”
She is also the youngest player to eliminate someone ranked No. 1 or 2 at Roland Garros since Monica Seles — like Hingis, now a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame — was 16 when she beat Steffi Graf in the 1990 final.
Andreeva has yet to win a tour-level title of any sort and is competing in only her fifth Slam tournament.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, is a two-time champion at the Australian Open, including in January, and had won the first 23 Grand Slam sets she played in 2024 until dropping two in a row against Andreeva. An ill Sabalenka was visited multiple times by a trainer and doctor on Wednesday and often clutched at her midsection, although it was not clear what was wrong.
When she broke to end the match with a beautiful lob that Sabalenka didn’t even move to try to get to, Andreeva broke into a wild smile, then covered her face with both hands.
On Thursday, Andreeva will face another newcomer to this stage: 12th-seeded Jasmine Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, who reached her first major semifinal with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion two years ago.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Paolini, who has won two titles in her career, neither on clay courts.
“I always play the way I want to play. We have a plan with my coach for the match, but after, I forget everything, and when I play a match, I don’t have any thoughts in my head,” said Andreeva, who is based in Cannes and is coached by 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez. “So maybe I would say that my strength could be that I just play how I want to play and I do whatever I want to do.”
The other women’s semifinals Thursday will be No. 1 Iga Swiatek vs. No. 3 Coco Gauff.
Swiatek is seeking her fifth Grand Slam title and fourth in Paris; Gauff won the U.S. Open last September and was the runner-up to Swiatek at Roland Garros in 2022.
WATCH | Swiatek beats Gauff in straight sets for 2022 French Open title:
Poland’s Iga Swiatek defeated American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 at Roland Garros on Saturday to win her 35th consecutive match.
Whoever wins that semifinal is likely to be a big favourite in the final against Andreeva or Paolini.
Gauff, with Katerina Siniakova, and Paolini, with Sara Errani, also are into the semifinals in doubles; Andreeva withdrew from that event before her quarterfinal scheduled for Wednesday.
Had Sabalenka and Rybakina won Wednesday, this would have been only the second time in the professional era, which began in 1968, that the women seeded 1-4 all advanced to the semifinals. The other was way back in 1992, when Seles, Graf, Gabriela Sabatini and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did it.
Andreeva already had shown plenty of promise, making her way to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open this year. She is precocious on the court and off, and is still refining her game, currently with the help of coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion.
“I kind of see the game. I just play wherever I want. I don’t even have a plan,” Andreeva said with a chuckle. “So when I see an open space on the court, I try to play there. Or if I think that maybe she will run there, I try to play behind her back or something like that. Me and my coach, we had a plan today, but again I didn’t remember anything during the match. I just try to feel as I play and that’s it.”
Paolini exited in the first or second round in each of her first 16 Grand Slam appearances before making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
With Jannik Sinner into the men’s semifinals, it is the first time an Italian woman and Italian man both have appeared in the final four at the same Grand Slam tournament in the same year. It’s quite a moment for their country in tennis: On Monday, Sinner will become the first man to be No. 1 in the ATP rankings.
Paolini finished with 22 unforced errors, fewer than half of Rybakina’s 48. And Paolini accumulated seven breaks against the big-serving Rybakina, who hit 10 aces.
Paolini exited in the first or second round in each of her first 16 Grand Slam appearances before making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Now she’s made it two steps beyond that.
For Paolini, Thursday is a chance for a rematch against Andreeva, who is more than a decade younger but won their meeting last month at the Madrid Open on clay.
“She’s so young but she’s so, so good mentally. And she can defend very well. She can serve well,” Paolini said. “It’s going to be a tough match, but we are in the semifinals, so there is no chance to get easy matches.”
Zverev reaches 4th straight French Open semi
Alexander Zverev beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Wednesday night to reach the men’s semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
Zverev extended his current winning streak to 11 matches, including a title on clay at the Italian Open last month, and his victory over the 11th-seeded de Minaur at Court Philippe Chatrier moves him into a matchup against two-time Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Zverev is competing in Paris as a court proceeding continues in his home country of Germany, connected to accusations of physical abuse by a former girlfriend of his.
Zverev said he never thought it was a possibility he wouldn’t be able to play in the French Open because of the court case.
“No, they made it very clear from the beginning that I don’t have to be there. I think everything is going accordingly. Everything is going OK from my side and from my point of view,” he said. “There’s nothing else to say.”
Zverev is trying to win his first Grand Slam title. So is No. 7 Ruud, who lost in the finals at Roland Garros in 2022 (to Nadal) and 2023 (to Djokovic) and at the U.S. Open in 2022 (to Alcaraz).
“I’m happy to be in another semifinal,” said Zverev, who is 0-3 at that stage in Paris. “Hopefully, I can win one.”
After eliminating 14-time champion Nadal in the first round, Zverev was coming off a pair of five-setters in the third and fourth rounds. This victory was far less complicated, although it could have been far more difficult than it was: de Minaur was one point from tying things at a set apiece while Zverev served down 6-5 in the second.
But Zverev fought that off. In the ensuing tiebreaker, de Minaur pulled out to a 4-0 lead, before Zverev collected seven of the next eight points.
The third set appeared to shift Zverev’s way for good when de Minaur double-faulted to get broken and fall behind 4-2. When Zverev served for the victory at 5-3, however, de Minaur used a delicate drop volley to break and extend the match. It wouldn’t last much longer, because Zverev broke right back to end it.
All in all, it was not a particularly clean match. They combined for more than twice as many unforced errors (101) as winners (48).
“Had my chances. Probably should have taken that second set,” de Minaur said after the end of his best run at the French Open. “I left my heart out there. Did everything I could.”
Olympic hopeful might miss Wimbledon
Novak Djokovic has decided to have surgery for a medial meniscus tear in his right knee and could miss Wimbledon, the French newspaper L’Equipe reported Wednesday, without citing a source.
ESPN also reported the Djokovic procedure, citing its own sources.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion injured his knee during a fourth-round victory at the French Open on Monday, then announced he was withdrawing from the tournament on Tuesday. He was supposed to play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
L’Equipe said the operation would be Wednesday in Paris.
Wimbledon, where Djokovic has won seven trophies, begins on July 1. The tennis competition at the Summer Olympics in Paris starts on July 27.
The 37-year-old Djokovic said after Monday’s match he had been dealing with a problem with his knee for a couple of weeks, but it was manageable until he hurt it early in the second set of what turned into a five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo.
That was the 370th Grand Slam match win for Djokovic, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most in tennis history.
Djokovic was the No. 1 seed and defending champion at Roland Garros. He will be replaced atop the ATP rankings by Jannik Sinner on Monday.
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