Pretty much everything about this year’s French Open has been a surprise, including the weather, which was oppressively hot the first week (the reason for Jannik Sinner’s demise) and cool and blustery today (part of the reason for Aryna Sabalenka’s). Among the other players sent home early were grand slam champions Djokovic, Rybakina, Gauff, and Świątek (who won this tournament four times in the past). The women’s semifinals do include a Pole, Maja Chwalinska, who is 5’5’’ but plays with a steadiness Świątek can only dream of. She will play the Russian who beat Sabalenka, Diana Shnaider, while in the other matchup, the Ukrainian who beat Świątek, Marta Kostyuk, will play the Russian Mirra Andreeva. It will be neighbor against aggressive neighbor on the red clay of Roland Garros.
