Tennis teen Andreeva stuns ailing Sabalenka to advance to French Open semifinals

Tennis teen Andreeva stuns ailing Sabalenka to advance to French Open semifinals

By Shrivathsa Sridhar

PARIS (Reuters) – Second seed Aryna Sabalenka was kicked out of the French Open after a shock 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 quarter-final defeat to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday after having been hampered by illness throughout the season. competition.

The victory made Andreeva, 17, who will face 12th seed Jasmine Paolini in the last four, the youngest semi-finalist at a Grand Slam since Martina Hingis, 16, at the US Open in 1997 and the youngest at Roland Garros. from the great Switzerland that same year.

It also ended Australian Open champion Sabalenka's streak of 11 Grand Slam wins this year and ensured her first major tournament defeat since the 2022 French Open.

“I kind of see the game and play wherever I want. I don’t even have a plan,” Andreeva, coached by Conchita Martinez, said of her strategy.

“My coach and I had a plan today, but I didn't remember anything. I just tried to play the way I feel…Having him by my side is an incredible advantage for me.

“I’m really happy she’s still working with me.”

After comfortably winning her last two meetings with Andreeva, Belarusian Sabalenka wasted no time getting to work as the Australian Open champion stepped up with her big shots to take a 3-1 lead before his serve was undone in the first set.

Sabalenka, suddenly unwell, called the coach and was given medication for illness after Andreeva took a 5-3 lead and sensed a real opportunity to cause a huge upset on the biggest stage.

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

She suffered a time violation for taking too long between matches as she crouched on her knees to recover at one point, and looked flustered at 4-2, ultimately allowing his Russian opponent to decide the match.

After an exchange of breaks, the two engaged in a high-quality battle that thrilled the fans at the Philippe Chatrier court, but Andreeva held on and broke Sabalenka in the final game to claim her biggest victory in her second match point.

“I even forgot what the score was. I tried not to focus on that. When it was the second match point for me, I was trying to imagine that I was saving a break point. I tried to play courageously,” Andreeva said.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris, editing by Toby Davis)