admin Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska continued her dream run at the French Open on Wednesday, reaching the semi-finals with a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya while world number one Aryna Sabalenka was eliminated flowing a 3-6 7-5 6-0 defeat by Diana Shnaider.
In a tournament that has witnessed several shocks including the exits of defending champion Coco Gauff and four-times winner Iga Swiatek, top seed Sabalenka’s loss sent another jolt through the wide-open women’s draw.
Shnaider reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final after an inspired battle in which she won the last 10 games having been two points away from defeat.
“I guess mentally I got into a very deep, deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back mentally on track,” Sabalenka told reporters.
The Belarusian has won all four of her Grand Slam titles on hard courts, but has suffered some demoralising losses at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Maja Chwalinska plays a backhand return to Anna Kalinskaya during their women’s quarter final singles match at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on Wednesday. AFP
The defeat against Shnaider was reminiscent of her agonising final loss to Coco Gauff in Paris last year.
“I really feel great on clay. I feel great on grass,” she said.
“I think just maybe I’m focusing too much that I never won a Slam on each, you know, and maybe it’s kind of like making me overthink stuff, makes me overemotional at some moment.
“This is something that I actually have to kind of step back and kind of try to find a solution, because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”
Anna Kalinskaya serves to Maja Chwalinska. AFP
Chwalinska absorbed the power of the 22nd seed superbly, repeatedly forcing Kalinskaya into errors by extending rallies and making her hit one extra shot as she became only the second qualifier in the Open era to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals – and the sixth to achieve the feat at a Grand Slam. After an early exchange of breaks, Chwalinska broke her opponent’s serve again and saved two break points to move 4-1 ahead before nerves crept in, allowing Kalinskaya to force a tiebreak.
But Chwalinska, who had won only two Tour-level matches on clay before this tournament, rediscovered her composure at the perfect moment. After a tense nine-shot rally on set point, Kalinskaya sent a backhand long to hand the Pole the opening set.
Chwalinska maintained her momentum in the second set and, aided by a stream of unforced errors from Kalinskaya, raced into a 4-1 lead.
Kalinskaya snatched a break back for 5-3 but Chwalinska sealed victory in the next game on another unforced error by the Russian. “Every single match here is kind of crazy for me, I’m very grateful,” said Chwalinska, who has only dropped one set on her way to the last four and will get into the top 30 after the tournament.
“My goal was to be top 100 this year. That was the main goal. Coming here, my goal was to qualify. I felt like I’m doing a good job, you know, like that I do the right things and I just need to be patient for it to click,” she told a news conference.
Maja Chwalinska (left) shakes hands with Anna Kalinskaya after winning her quarter final match. Reuters
“Obviously, I didn’t expect it to happen that way. But, I mean, I’m not complaining.”
Kalinskaya said the windy and cold conditions had worked against her.
“It was cold today, so the ball was going slower. I couldn’t use my speed, my power. So it definitely was an advantage for her today, for her game style,” she said.
“That’s why I couldn’t feel like I was taking a lot of control of the point, because my ball was not very powerful, and it didn’t hurt her too much.”
Meanwhile, Flavio Cobolli came back from a set down to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
By eliminating the Canadian fourth seed, Cobolli has ensured that there will be an Italian man in the final come Sunday.
At the start of the tournament, that eventuality seemed almost a given with top seed Jannik Sinner on a scintillating clay-court run.
However, the world number one stunningly lost in the second round and blew the top half of the draw wide open.
Three of his compatriots have more than taken advantage of that opening, with Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi set to battle it out in the other top-bracket quarter-final.
The winner of that match will meet 10th seed Cobolli in the last four on Friday, after the 24-year-old overpowered world number six Auger-Aliassime in their last-eight encounter on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It will be the first all-Italian Grand Slam men’s semi-final in history.
Agencies
