The 2025 French Open delivered one of its most dramatic quarterfinal days in recent memory on Wednesday, as world No. 1 and pre-tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka suffered a stunning mental and physical collapse that saw her crash out of the competition at the hands of 25th seed Diana Shnaider. The result leaves the women’s draw guaranteed to crown a first-time Grand Slam singles champion, with the men’s draw already set for the same outcome following earlier upsets of top contenders.
Sabalenka entered her quarterfinal clash on Court Philippe Chatrier as the overwhelming favorite to claim the maiden Roland Garros title that had long evaded her. All of her biggest title rivals — including defending champion Iga Swiatek, 2024 finalist Coco Gauff, and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina — had already exited the tournament in earlier rounds, leaving the top-ranked Belarusian with a clear path to the trophy. But what followed was a stunning unraveling that mirrored her collapse in last year’s French Open final, where Gauff fought back from a set down to claim the title.
Shnaider got off to a fast start, taking the opening set 6-3. Sabalenka battled back, however, grabbing a double break in the second set and appeared poised to turn the match around. But Shnaider kept her composure, clawed her way back to win the second set 7-5, and then completely dominated a broken Sabalenka in the deciding set, closing out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory that sent her through to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
After the match, Sabalenka opened up about the mental fog that derailed her campaign. “I screw up, and then she stepped in and she played great. I feel like mentally I couldn’t really recover after the second set,” she told reporters. “I don’t know when was the last time that happened to me that I lost 10 games in a row. I guess mentally I got into very deep, dark hole over there, and I just couldn’t get back mentally on track.” In a display of dark humor, she added, “I don’t like easy wins, you know. I guess for me it’s about suffer, overcome, and get it done.”
For Shnaider, the result marks a career-defining breakthrough. The 22-year-old had never advanced past the fourth round of a major before this tournament, with her previous best run coming at the 2024 US Open. Reflecting on her come-from-behind win, she expressed joy at her ability to close out the match after a slow start. “Definitely super happy I managed to finish on a good note rather than start on a good note,” she said. “It’s definitely a special tournament for me here. It’s going be a lefty battle so I’m looking forward to the semi-final.”
That semi-final clash will pit Shnaider against one of the most unlikely stories of this year’s tournament: Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, who continued her Cinderella run on Wednesday by becoming just the second women’s qualifier to reach the Roland Garros semifinals in the Open Era.
Ranked 114th in the world, Chwalinska had only ever won two tour-level clay matches in her entire career before arriving in Paris. After battling through three qualifying rounds to reach just her third career Grand Slam main draw, she has now won eight matches total at the tournament, and booked her semi-final spot with a 7-6(3), 6-3 upset over 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya. The 24-year-old admitted she still can’t process her historic run. “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,” she said on court after the win. “I’m just focusing on every single match. I honestly don’t feel like it’s, like, a huge, huge moment for me. But definitely after the tournament finishes, I will kind of have time to, I guess, be grateful for what happened and process it as well.”
With both of Wednesday’s winners guaranteeing a new Grand Slam champion on the women’s side, the men’s draw has already been set to produce a first-time major winner as well. After Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton suffered shocking early exits, world No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked player remaining in the top half of the draw, and he will face 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals on Thursday. The winner of that match will go on to face either Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up and the only player in the remaining quarter with prior major final experience, or Matteo Arnaldi in Friday’s semi-final.