PARIS — Mirra Andreeva, a 17-year-old girl who is having the time of her life here, says she and her coach make a game plan before her tennis matches. Give yourself wings.
It seems to be going well so far. The unseeded Russian became the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist in 25 years.
Andreeva, playing in only her sixth major tournament, breezed past second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4. French Open On Wednesday. On Thursday, Andreeva faces another surprising player. No. 12 Jasmine Paolini, a 28-year-old Italian player, advanced to her first major semifinal after defeating No. 4 Elena Rivachina 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
38th said, “I always play the way I want to play. I made a game plan with the coach, but when I forget everything and play, I don’t think about anything.” – Andreeva, who lives in Cannes, France and was coached by 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez. “So I think my strength is just playing the way I want to play and doing what I want to do.”
This is something many parents of teenagers have heard before.
Thursday’s other matchups are: 1st A match between 3rd place Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek. Swiatek is seeking his fifth Grand Slam title and fourth in Paris. Gauff won the US Open in September and was runner-up to Sviatek at Roland Garros in 2022. Both won their singles quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Gauff with Katerina Siniakova and Paolini with Sara Errani also reached the doubles semifinals. Andreeva withdrew from the tournament ahead of the quarterfinals scheduled for Wednesday.
Andreeva’s success at her age is not unprecedented, but it has been quite a while.
She is the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist since 16-year-old Martina Hingis in 1997. You have to go back further to find the young player who eliminated the top two women at Roland Garros in 1990. Monica Seles, like Hingis and now a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, was 16 years old when she beat Steffi Graf in the final.
“I would say I’m almost like a normal teenager, because I still have to do school, which I don’t want to do. In my free time, I watch a lot of TV series. I watch Netflix. Sometimes I just hang out. I spend a lot of time on my Instagram. I’m sending it.” Andreeva said. “But what makes me a little bit different is, I don’t know if I can say I’m mature, but I feel like I’m a mature person and I feel like I know what I’m doing.”
So even if she and Martinez discuss strategies ahead of time, those tactics aren’t necessarily put into action.
According to Andreeva, she understands the situation from scene to scene.
“I decide, ‘Well, what should I do? Should I get down the line or should I cross? Should I do a drop shot or a lob?’” Andreeva said. his sister, 19, said. Erika lost to Sabalenka in the first round last week. “Sometimes it’s not very good because I have a lot of decisions on my mind.”
She has yet to win a tour-level title and is playing in only her fifth Slam tournament.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka has won the Australian Open twice, including in January, and won in 23 Grand Slam sets for the first time in 2024 until she lost two in a row against Andreeva. Sabalenka, who suffers from gastrointestinal problems, had several visits from trainers and doctors, and she often found herself clutching her abdomen.
“I had a tough time physically today,” Sabalenka said. “It’s been really hard for me because I’ve been very sick with a stomach bug for the past few days.”
The 25-year-old from Belarus never considered retiring from the game.
“I will always do my best and fight until the end,” he said. “I had to keep trying and hope I could find a way and feel a little better.”
There were many momentum swings, and the outcome was in doubt until the final game when Andreeva hit a beautiful lob that Sabalenka didn’t even move.
“If we look back,” Andreeva said later. “I wouldn’t expect anything from myself. [in the] semifinal.”
Had Sabalenka and Rybakina won, it would have been only the second time in the professional era that began in 1968 that women seeded 1 through 4 have all reached the semifinals in Paris. The other one is from 1992.
But Paolini and Andreeva prevented this.
Jannik Sinner’s advance to the men’s singles semifinals marks the first time that an Italian woman and an Italian man have reached the semifinals of the same Grand Slam tournament in the same year. It is a very important moment for the tennis game in my country. On Monday, Sinner will become the first man to top the ATP rankings.
The men’s semifinals take place on Friday, with Sinner facing Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev facing Casper Ruud. Zverev advanced to the semifinals in Paris for the fourth consecutive year by defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Paolini was eliminated in the first or second round in each of her first 16 Grand Slam appearances before reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. Now she’s two steps further.
For Paolini, Thursday is a chance for a rematch with Andreeva, who despite being more than 10 years younger, won the Madrid Open on clay last month.
“She is so young, but mentally she is so good. She defends well and serves well,” Paolini said. “It will be a difficult match for her, but she has reached the semi-finals so she is unlikely to have an easy match.”
This report used information from Tom Hamilton of the Associated Press and ESPN.
