The surprises just keep on coming at this year’s French Open as Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out of the tournament by Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. Despite making a strong start to the match, the Belarusian crumbled under the pressure and went on to lose 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Sabalenka got humiliated in the third set, and this is the first time since the 2024 Dubai Championships that she has gotten bageled. She lost the final ten games in a row as Shnaider absolutely dominated the later stages of the match.

Shnaider was clearly the underdog coming into the match. She had never faced Sabalenka in a tour-level match before this and was expected not to be a big challenge for the World No. 1. However, she put in a top-class performance that was good enough to defeat any player in the world. The victory means that the Russian has now advanced to her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.

Shnaider had to really dig deep in order to win this match. After losing the first set, she was down 1-4 in the second. Sabalenka appeared to be cruising towards the expected victory. But her opponent refused to go down easily and put in an incredible effort to win 12 out of the next 13 games.

Sabalenka had lost all her momentum by the time Shnaider had dragged the match into the third set. She committed error after error while her opponent mastered the windy conditions at the Philippe-Chatrier. Sabalenka finished the match with a staggering 57 unforced errors, 17 of which came in the deciding set alone. The defeat also snapped her streak of six consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.

The defeat will be a major hit to Sabalenka’s points-tally on the rankings. Having gained 1300 points following her appearance in the French Open final last year, she is now set to lose 870 points following her quarterfinal exit. Though the 28-year-old won’t be losing her place at the top, she will have to bring in solid results in the upcoming tournaments to hold her position as the World No. 1.

For Shnaider, this was only her second win over a top 10 opponent on the tour. She had previously racked up an unexpected 6-4, 6-1 win over Coco Gauff at the 2024 National Bank Open in Toronto. The triumph over Sabalenka has also made Schnaider just the fourth WTA player since 1975 to bagel a World No. 1 in the third set at a Grand Slam. She has entered an elite list that includes legends like Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Finally, Shnaider has also become the second-youngest active player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. She is only second to the 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who has also reached the last 4 of the French Open following her comprehensive 6-0, 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals. While she is scheduled to take on Marta Kostyuk in the semis, Shnaider will be up against Maja Chwalinska, who had entered the tournament as a qualifier.

Describing the victory as “super special”, Shnaider remarked that she was able to find her rhythm in the deciding set, which helped her in controlling the tempo of the game.

“Definitely a super special win. I feel like in the 3rd set I finally found my rhythm and how to play, where to be more defensive and where to attack. The third set was the one I should be aiming for from the beginning. Super happy I managed to finish on a good note and not to start on a good note. Definitely a super special tournament for me here,” she said during her post-match interview.

On the other hand, Sabalenka was distraught with the result and appeared to be emotional as she gave her verdict to the press.

Aryna Sabalenka hopes to get back on track after shock French Open exit

“No thoughts, no emotion. I want to quit tennis right now. We’ll see in a few days. Hopefully I can get back on track mentally,” she said during the post-match press conference.

It won’t be wrong to say the windy conditions played a big role in Sabalenka’s defeat. The Belarusian just wasn’t able to adapt to the weather and lost her composure completely as the third set commenced.

Sabalenka felt that the tournament officials should have closed the roof at the Philippe-Chatrier when they knew about the windy conditions in Paris. She also recalled that the roof had been closed during the men’s singles matches last year due to similar conditions.

“That’s another question – I don’t know why they would keep the roof open when it was crazy windy. But how can I complain if for almost the whole match everything was working okay for me, and then it just slipped away? I feel like it was getting crazy maybe just because mentally I wasn’t really okay.”

“I remember even from last year they kept the roof open for us, and then the next day, in similar conditions, they closed it for the men – to make better conditions and better quality of tennis, I believe. I don’t know why they would keep it open. Even though I was winning, it was very dirty tennis. I don’t know how people could actually sit there and watch. And then at some point she stepped in and played unbelievable,” she added.

With her clay swing coming to a bitter end, Sabalenka will now be shifting her focus to the upcoming grass-court season. She is likely to begin the season with the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club, which begins on June 8.