The surprises just keep on coming at this year’s French Open as Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out of the tournament by Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. Despite making a strong start to the match, the Belarusian crumbled under the pressure and went on to lose 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Sabalenka got humiliated in the third set, and this is the first time since the 2024 Dubai Championships that she has gotten bageled. She lost the final ten games in a row as Shnaider absolutely dominated the later stages of the match.

Shnaider was clearly the underdog coming into the match. She had never faced Sabalenka in a tour-level match before this and was expected not to be a big challenge for the World No. 1. However, she put in a top-class performance that was good enough to defeat any player in the world. The victory means that the Russian has now advanced to her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.

Shnaider had to really dig deep in order to win this match. After losing the first set, she was down 1-4 in the second. Sabalenka appeared to be cruising towards the expected victory. But her opponent refused to go down easily and put in an incredible effort to win 12 out of the next 13 games.

Sabalenka had lost all her momentum by the time Shnaider had dragged the match into the third set. She committed error after error while her opponent mastered the windy conditions at the Philippe-Chatrier. Sabalenka finished the match with a staggering 57 unforced errors, 17 of which came in the deciding set alone. The defeat also snapped her streak of six consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.

This was only Shnaider’s second win over a top 10 opponent on the tour. She had previously racked up an unexpected 6-4, 6-1 win over Coco Gauff at the 2024 National Bank Open in Toronto. The triumph over Sabalenka has also made Schnaider just the fourth WTA player since 1975 to bagel a World No. 1 in the third set at a Grand Slam. She has entered an elite list that includes legends like Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.