Mirra Andreeva, an unseeded 17-year-old from Russia, stunned No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 at the French Open on Wednesday, becoming the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist since Martina Hingis at 16 in 1997. She is also the youngest player to defeat someone ranked No. 1 or 2 at Roland Garros since Monica Seles, who, like Hingis, is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, beat Steffi Graf in the 1990 final when she was 16 years old. Andreeva has yet to win a tour-level title and is playing in her fifth Slam tournament.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, is a two-time Australian Open champion, including in January, and had won the first 23 Grand Slam sets she played in 2024 until losing two in a row to Andreeva. Sabalenka was seen by a trainer and a doctor several times on Wednesday, and she frequently gripped her midsection, but it was unclear what was wrong. When Andreeva broke to end the match with a brilliant lob that Sabalenka didn’t even try to reach, she erupted into a wild smile and covered her face with both hands.

On Thursday, Andreeva will meet another rookie on this stage: Jasmine Paolini, a 28-year-old Italian, who advanced to her first major semifinal with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over No.4 seed Elena Rybakina, a Wimbledon champion two years ago. Paolini was all over Rybakina in the first set. She earned an incredible win percentage of 100% on her second serves (8 out of 8). She also won 89 percent of her first serves, dominating the Kazakh star. Most crucially, she converted two of her nine break point opportunities and denied Rybakina a single chance to break her serve.

Andreeva had previously shown plenty of promise, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open this year. She is precocious on and off the court, and she is continually honing her craft, currently with the assistance of coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion.

The other encounter on Thursday combines star players with far more experience and far better accomplishments, No.1 Iga Swiatek takes on No.3 Coco Gauff. Swiatek is aiming for her fifth Grand Slam championship, and fourth in Paris; Gauff won the US Open last September and finished second to Swiatek at Roland Garros in 2022. They both won the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Whoever wins that semifinal will most likely be a heavy favourite in the final against Andreeva or Paolini.