The sensation: Andreeva turns Sabalenka and rushes into the semi-finals, Paolini surprises Rybakina

This Wednesday, the earth shook on the Philippe-Chatrier court. And the two favorites at the bottom of the table paid the price. In the wake of Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka left the tournament in her turn, overthrown by the very young and very talented Mirra Andreeva, 38th in the world, with a score of 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in 2h29 of Thu. The Russian thus qualifies for a final four Grand Slam at just 17 years old, with a great opportunity to go even further.

The game was of high quality but difficult to read, like a first set where the two players took turns taking the advantage: 3-1 Sabalenka then 3-5 Andreeva, before the Belarusian won at the last minute in the tie-break. But to achieve this, she left a lot of energy on the court. However, the world number 2 was visibly ill: she called the doctor during the first round and took a pill which allowed her to partially regain her senses.

Sabalenka made the break at the start of the second set to continue her momentum, but physically, she was unable to maintain her intensity over the length. Less powerful, Andreeva was extremely intelligent in moving her rival laterally. And this use of court geometry ended up paying off. As a symbol, it was on a love lob that she won magnificently. A nice breath of fresh air in a women’s tournament that is already generally pleasing.

It was the first feeling of the day. In a women’s draw with rather implacable logic so far, Jasmine Paolini was the first to stand in the way of the announced semi-final between Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka at Roland-Garros. Wednesday, on the Philippe-Chatrier court, the Italian, 15th player in the world, brought down the number 4 seed of the tournament in three sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-4) and 2h03 of play in the quarter of final. After discovering the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in Melbourne, she will play her first half against Mirra Andreeva.

So there will be no last dreams for these ladies. But the central court audience will not complain, having taken up the cause of Jasmine Paolini. It must be said that the little Italian (1 meter 63) defied the predictions in a rather pleasing way, doing everything necessary to trap Elena Rybakina who was generally beside her subject. Lively, very comfortable making her opponent play the extra shot, Paolini also showed surprising resistance in the diagonal forehand against the Kazakh favorite.

To tell the truth, for a set and a half, there was no photo between the two players. One statistic summed up the dynamic in the first set extremely well: guilty of 16 unforced errors, Rybakina watered the court, while Paolini reduced his waste to the bare minimum (a tiny error). On her momentum, the Italian quickly made the break in the second set. Although caught, she fought back to lead 6-2, 4-3, 40/15 on her serve.

The carrots seemed cooked. But Rybakina, like a champion, then reacted, stringing together three games to reset the counters to zero. And when she came back from a break behind twice to finally lead 3-2 in the final act, the world number 4 certainly thought she had done the hardest part.

But her opponent held on and at 4-4, the 2022 Wimbledon champion completely broke down to offer her service to the Italian who was not asking for so much. On her 48th and final direct error, Rybakina left the tournament with her head down, while Paolini’s smile lit up a Chatrier already flooded with sunshine. Clearly, Italy is very lucky.