World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a startling exit from Roland Garros, losing the final 10 games of her quarterfinal against No. 25 seed Diana Shnaider and falling 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Sabalenka led by a set and two breaks and even served for the match at 5-4 before the match slipped away.

“Just want to quit tennis right now,” the world No. 1 said after the loss.

The match unfolded in gusty conditions, with wind reported to reach up to 30 miles-per-hour on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Sabalenka frequently paused to let the court settle but grew visibly frustrated as Shnaider mounted a comeback.

“This is something that I actually have to kind of, like, step back and kind of, like, try to find a solution,” a dazed Sabalenka said in her post-match press conference, “because I just am so tired of me losing some matches not in the best way just because I was overemotional.”

“I don’t know why would they keep the roof open when it’s, like, it was crazy windy,” said Sabalenka, who cited a men’s match last year where organizers closed the Chatrier roof. “But how can I complain if almost for the whole match everything was working okay for me, but then it just slipped away? I feel like it was getting crazy maybe just because mentally I wasn’t really okay.”

With Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina all out of the tournament before the quarterfinals, the top seed had appeared to have an open path to a third straight Grand Slam final. Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska awaited the winner of Shnaider’s match in the semifinals.

Sabalenka has been the dominant world No. 1 since the end of 2024 and will remain No. 1 regardless of Roland Garros results, but her Grand Slam history has been uneven: she is 4-4 in major finals and endured a similar late-match collapse last year against Coco Gauff. Earlier in 2026 she led Rybakina 3-0 in the final set of the Australian Open final only to lose six of the final seven games.

“I’m quite experienced player,” said Sabalenka, stating the obvious. “I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things. I just have to figure that little thing that is not working for me sometimes, and hopefully I can overcome it.”

Uncertain about the weeks ahead and the run up to Wimbledon, Sabalenka closed the press conference with the line, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and a touch of the same wry humor with which she began it.

Jakub Mensik reached his first major semifinal with a composed performance, defeating Joao Fonseca 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3) Tuesday evening under the lights with the roof closed on Court Philippe Chatrier. The 20-year-old became the first man born in 2004 or later to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

Mensik took control early and, despite a tense finish, closed out the match in straight sets. Up two sets, Mensik saved a set point while working his way back on serve in the third after twice falling a break behind. Fonseca then fended off six match points to force a tiebreak, with one of those chances slipping away on an errant overhead miss from Mensik, before the Czech converted on his seventh opportunity.

“The last 20, 30 minutes of the match, it was just really insane the level from both of us and actually a lot of, I would say, key moments at the time,” Mensik assessed in his press conference.

At the time even if the crowd erupts, I couldn’t hear anything. Basically I was that much in the zone and so focused that actually I was just focusing on every other point. Jakub Mensik on blocking out the noise late in the third set

Reflected the 19-year-old Brazilian in defeat, “I did my best today. I think I put all I had on court, but yeah, unfortunately it was Jakub’s day. He played good tennis. I wish him good luck.

“The way he deals with the important points is also really impressive. I think he controlled most of the part of the match, serving pretty well and doing the entrance with the return pretty well.”

Mensik created 21 break points and converted five return games. His run through the clay swing had been uneven: a toe infection forced a Monte Carlo withdrawal, he posted two wins in Madrid, lost his Rome opener to Alexei Popyrin and split two matches in Hamburg. His French Open campaign nearly ended in the second round when the No. 26 seed survived Mariano Navone 7-6 (13-11) in the fifth; Mensik required seven match points in that match, collapsed from the heat and was taken off in a wheelchair.

Crediting his fitness, Mensik said, “I was basically super happy that I could come to Roland Garros, finally good prepared without any injury, playing pain-free. As the tournament is going, I’m playing better and better,” he commented.

A familiar opponent awaits on Friday: 2024 finalist Alexander Zverev, who halted Rafael Jodar in straight sets. Mensik was edged by Zverev in a deciding set at Madrid in their first tour meeting.

Marta Kostyuk continued an exceptional clay run with a victory that carried historic weight. The No. 15 seed defeated countrywoman Elina Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 on a closed Court Philippe Chatrier to become the first Ukrainian woman in the Open Era to reach the Roland Garros semifinals.

The match extended Kostyuk’s unbeaten streak on clay this season to 17 matches and marked her deepest run at a major. The 23-year-old entered the tournament having captured titles in Rouen and Madrid earlier in the season, coming into Roland Garros shortly after Svitolina’s Rome triumph. Both players arrived at the French Open as genuine contenders for the latter stages.

After the win, Kostyuk spoke directly to the situation at home and dedicated the victory to her compatriots: “We had a very difficult night again in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv,” she began during an on-court interview. “So many people dead. I want to give this match to Ukrainian people and their resilience. Thank you. Slava Ukraini!”

She also paid tribute to her opponent’s influence on Ukrainian tennis and on her own career: “Of course I want to point out Elina and her incredible impact on Ukrainian tennis, on Ukrainians, and on me,” she said. “I’m so happy to be in the semifinals. But I want to thank her again for this incredible match.”

Kostyuk reached the last eight after an earlier first-round victory over Oksana Selekhmeteva in a tournament that has included personal and national strain; she had said she took the court following news that a missile struck about 100 meters from her family’s home in Kyiv. Her previous best major showing was a run to the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian Open, when she fell to Coco Gauff. © Matt Fitzgerald