Aryna Sabalenka knocked out of French Open as Zheng Qinwen’s conqueror keeps on going

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a first French Open title was left in tatters as she fell apart in a bizarre defeat by Russian 25th seed Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The world No 1 led by a set and a double-break before exiting the tournament in a blaze of unforced errors, collapsing to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss in blustery conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier. Shnaider will face Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in the semi-finals on Thursday. World No 114 Chwalinska continued her stunning run on Wednesday by beating 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya to become just the second women’s qualifier to reach the last four at Roland Garros in the professional era.

Chwalinska again defied the odds to down the Russian 7-6, 6-3 at the quarter-final stage. Sabalenka was the only grand slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws, but belied that status by making a whopping 57 unforced errors. Left-hander Shnaider was playing in her first major quarter-final, but now finds herself a strong favourite to reach the final heading into her last-four tie against Chwalinska. “Well, honestly I’m speechless, I’m super happy. Obviously tough conditions with the wind,” said the 22-year-old Shnaider after beating a top-10 player for only the second time in her career. “First time playing Aryna so definitely a lot of nerves and I feel the first set was trying to adjust to her game.” Sabalenka’s scarcely believable defeat was reminiscent of the way she threw away a strong position in last year’s final against Coco Gauff.

The four-time major winner led 4-1 in the second set against Shnaider and was two points from victory when serving for the match at 5-4 before completely collapsing. Sabalenka stood still and screamed loudly after losing a point to fall 0-30 down in the sixth game of the decider and, although she saved two match points at 0-40 down, she lost the match when she sent a shot into the net. The Belarusian was playing in a 14th consecutive grand slam quarter-final but failed to become the first woman to make seven straight major semis since Serena Williams. Before her run in Paris, Chwalinska had only ever won two tour-level matches on clay in her career, but now she stands one victory away from competing for the biggest title the surface has to offer.

Regardless of the outcome of that match, Chwalinska has ensured her spot in the annals of Roland Garros by equalling, at least, the result of Nadia Podoroska, who in 2020 became the first woman in the Open era to come through qualifying and reach the semi-finals at the clay-court grand slam. She started out by downing Chinese Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen in the first round before felling 23rd seed Elise Mertens and former world No 3 Maria Sakkari. “I honestly don’t know what’s going on. I know I repeat myself but every single match here is kind of crazy for me so I’m very grateful,” Chwalinska said. “I’m happy it looks like that but I was definitely nervous, it’s normal, you know, I care,” she added when asked about her calm demeanour on court. “I just try to win every match that I’m playing. “I’m playing against the best players in the world so I won’t compare myself to them.”