French Open Roland Garros WTA Quarter-Finals Round-up | World No.1 Sabalenka stunned by Shnaider as qualifier Chwalinska defeats Kalinskaya in day of upsets

The semi-final lineup at the 2026 French Open is set in stone. The final two ties were played in blustery conditions at Roland Garros with two massive upsets, including the world number one being knocked out.

Aryna Sabalenka was one of the title favourite to clinch the title before a ball was even hit, and it looked even more likely with eh draw opening up due to surprising results. However, she would succumb to one herself against a brilliant Diana Shnaider who completed an amazing turnaround to bagel Sabalenka in the third set, winning the final 10 games.

Before that, a huge surprise was in store as Maja Chwalinska continued her incredible Roland Garros run after dumping out yet another top seed in the form of Anna Kalinskaya. Sabalenka and Chwalinska will meet in tomorrow’s semi-finals with Mirra Andreeva and Marta Kostyuk completing the last-four lineup from yesterday’s action.

Sabalenka was the huge favourite coming into this quarter-final. She was playing some brilliant stuff throughout, but Shnaider fought back to secure a hugely significant 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 win, adding to the plethora of upsets in this thrilling tournament.

A streak of six consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals has come to an end for the four-time Grand Slam champion as her wait for a Roland Garros title continues. She was a double break up in the fourth set leading 4-1. She would completely collapse from here until the end. Shnaider won 12 of the final 13 games to completely batter a sluggish and wasteful Sabalenka for a seismic upset.

The match begun with a couple of tight holds, in which both players came out without giving any opportunities to their opponents. From there, Sabalenka turned the ante up. Four games of quality saw her blast out into a 5-1 lead.

There were factors that affected both players, especially Sabalenka. The wind was blustering around and making it tricky for the Belarusian to compete. She missed two set points with some poor misses as Shnaider kept in it for the time being. Sabalenka had to survive another break point two games later before creating a third match point which was taken on this instance.

The windy conditions continued to make the match a troubling one to divert. Sabalenka got on top of it early in the second set as she broke the Shnaider serve to stamp her authority on proceedings. This was backed up with a hold before Shnaider got on the board.

Sabalenka made a sprint to the finishing line with a brutal break to love, seemingly the final nail in the coffin for Shnaider in her quarter-final debut. It most certainly was not. Shnaider reduced the deficit to a game before failing to convert four break points. Not to worry as she eventually broke back before holding to sail 6-5 to the good. It was the first time in any set that she led, and a break in the next game confirmed six of the last seven games going against the world number one and Shnaider levelled the score.ia

The momentum kept with Shnaider going into the third set. After holding, a 12-minute game kept flipping from one end to the other. With a fourth break point, Shnaider punished a wasteful Sabalenka who would eventually fall a break behind. The Russian held to love straight after, feasting off a ton of unforced errors committed by Sabalenka.

It just went from bad to worse for a flustered Sabalenka. Two more break points came the way of Shnaider, and it seemed like that was the writing on the wall. Shnaider moved one game away from a maiden Grand Slam semi-final, and converted a third match point to secure the biggest win of her career against the best player in the world.

Chwalinska entered the tournament as the world number 114 via qualifying. She is now in the top 30 in the WTA live rankings after getting the better of Anna Kalinskaya 7-6(3), 6-3 in a fabulous win.

From an unknown tennis talent to some extent, she will leave this Roland Garros as one of the most mentioned players after one of the stories in a French Open that has had all sorts of storylines and upsets. An opportunity missed for Kalinskaya who was sloppy at times that really cost her on court.

Kalinskaya began with a break of serve but her luck would run out for a period of time as Chwalinska blasted ahead. Five games were won on the spin by the Pole who was really giving Kalinskaya a tricky time on court. No rhythm was found by the 22nd seed who was struggling to create anything positive, mustering up a lot of unforced errors.

She did save a set point before breaking and closing the gap to 5-3. Chwalinska had another chance to serve it out as the blustery conditions took its toll. Kalinskaya completed the turn around and got the match back on serve while saving yet another set point. It went to a tiebreak with Kalinskaya’s momentum being shattered. Chwalinska took the first set and edged halfway to the last-four.

The second set began with two holds, but from that point all the games barring one would be breaks. That singular hold came for Chwalinska who backed up the break to move 3-1 to the good.

Her advantage would go to 4-1, but most significantly a double break. Kalinskaya twice reduced this deficit, but each time fell behind once more. The final time was definitive as Chwalinska cooly converted her first set point and remarkably keeps up this fairytale run in a dream Roland Garros debut.