Second seed Aryna Sabalenka was sent crashing out of the French Open after a shock 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final loss to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday after being hampered by illness throughout the contest.

Having won her last two meetings with Andreeva comfortably, Belarusian Sabalenka wasted little time getting to work as the Australian Open champion cranked up her big shots to go ahead 3-1 before her serve came undone in the opening set.

A suddenly out-of-sorts Sabalenka called the trainer out and had medication for illness after the 17-year-old Andreeva surged to a 5-3 lead and sensed a real opportunity to cause a massive upset on the biggest stage.

But Sabalenka regrouped to force a tie-break where the 2023 semi-finalist seized the advantage with a stunning drop shot on set-point, but appeared to struggle physically again at the start of the next set.

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts after missing a shot against Russia's Mirra Andreeva during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday AP/PTI

She got a time violation for taking too long between games as she crouched to her knees to recover at one point, and looked agitated at 4-2 down, eventually allowing her Russian opponent to take the match into a decider.

After an exchange of breaks, the pair were locked in a high-quality battle that thrilled fans on Court Philippe Chatrier but Andreeva held her own and broke Sabalenka in the final game to complete a memorable victory on her second match point.

A first for Paolini

Italian surprise package Jasmine Paolini staved off a fightback from fourth seed Elena Rybakina to seal a stunning 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win and advance to the semi-finals for the first time.

The 12th-seeded Paolini, playing in her first grand slam quarter final, got off to a confident start by winning the opening two games and forced her opponent to work hard to hold serve, before breaking again en route to taking the first set.

A sublime backhand winner gave Paolini another break in the third game of the next set but 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina responded with one of her own and slowly came to grips with the Italian’s power and precision.

Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina exchanged breaks with Paolini again but the 24-year-old held firm to level the contest at one set apiece and recovered after surrendering her serve at the start of the decider.

Paolini secured a hold to love to make it 4-4, playing at the level she showed early in the match and she took advantage of Rybakina’s errors to close out a famous victory.

Paolini was born in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, a town in Tuscany, and made her debut on the WTA tour in 2015.

She has won two singles titles but has enjoyed her most productive year to date in 2024, reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the Australian Open in January.

Her performance against Rybakina, who she beat for the second time in her nine-year career, won the backing of the Paris crowd, who cheered throughout her tenacious performance.

With Jannik Sinner also reaching the last four, there will be Italians in the semi-finals of both the men’s and women’s singles at a major for the first time in the Open era.

“It was a really tough match. I was a bit too emotional in the second set,” said Paolini. “I said to myself, ‘OK, it is good. Rybakina is a great champion so it can happen’. I tried to hit every ball and it worked, I am here.

“I just tried to stay there every point, to forget what happened in the second set. I managed to come back and I just accept that and fight again. Thank you guys, thank you very much for cheering for me.”

Alcaraz vs Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz halted a mid-match fightback by ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to secure a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win on Tuesday and set up a blockbuster semi-final with incoming world No.1 Jannik Sinner.

The third seed, who came into the contest with a 5-0 record over Tsitsipas, caused all kinds of problems for his Greek opponent with high kick serves to the backhand and won the first set in 33 minutes. The rematch of last year’s quarter final looked set for the same result on Court Philippe Chatrier as Alcaraz broke and then held to go up 3-0 as Tsitsipas did not help his cause with an error-prone display early in the second set.

Tsitsipas worked the crowd after hitting a stinging forehand when down 4-2 and looked rejuvenated as he finally solved the puzzle with a break back before drawing level, but Alcaraz raised his game in the tiebreak to double his advantage.

Bopanna shines

The second-seeded Indo-Australian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden sailed into the semi-finals of the French Open with a comfortable victory over Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in the men’s doubles quarter-finals here on Wednesday.

The pair won 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-1 at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Bopanna and Ebden took one hour and four minutes to complete their win over the Belgium duo, seeded 10th in the year’s second Grand Slam.

In an exciting contest, Bopanna and Ebden prevailed to take the first set but the Belgians came back strongly to win the second set.

However, the third set was a cruise for Bopanna and Ebden as they broke early to quickly establish their dominance and never gave their opponents an inch.

AP/PTI, Reuters