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Andreeva returned strongly after losing the first set to
defeat Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 defeat in the women’s singles quarterfinals
to clash with another first-time semifinalist Jasmine Paolini of Italy.
Andreeva battled past an ailing Sabalenka, who received a
first-set medical timeout and subsequent other attention later in the match
that lasted 2 hours and 29 minutes at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Andreeva ultimately beat the World No.2 Sabalenka for the
first time in three career meetings on one of the game’s biggest stages.
Andreeva is the youngest woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since former No.
1 Martina Hingis, who was 16 when she reached both the Roland Garros and US
Open semifinals in 1997.
Sabalenka hadn’t lost a set in a Grand Slam match this year
before facing Andreeva. She had lost more than four games only two of the 22
sets in that 11-match streak.
But Andreeva became the youngest player to defeat either the
World No.1 or No.2 in a Grand Slam event since a then-16-year-old Jelena Dokic
stunned Hingis in the first round at Wimbledon in 1999. Andreeva is the
youngest to do it at the French Open since Monica Seles, also 16, defeated
Stefanie Graf in Paris’ 1990 final.
Sabalenka started by breaking Andreeva’s serve in the second
game of the first set but the teenager broke back immediately to make it 1-2.
However, Sabalenka effected a second break of serve in the third game to 3-1 up
but Andreeva broke back again to make it 2-3. She held her serve to make it
3-3. Sabalenka, however, won the tie-breaker 7-5, hitting three winners in a
row.
In the second set, the two players again traded breaks on a
couple of occasions before Andreeva took a crucial break in the 10th
game, unleashing some backhand forcing shots as she won the set 6-4.
After the games went with serve till 2-2, Sabalenka broke
serve only to have Andreeva return the favour in the next game. Andreeva again
took the all-important break in the 10th game with a fine backhand
winner to seal victory in the match.