Jasmine Paolini booked a place in the final four of the French Open for the first time, knocking out fourth seed Elena Rybakina in an epic quarter-final.
The 28-year-old Italian staved off a fightback from the Kazakh former Wimbledon champion to seal a stunning 6-2 4-6 6-4 win, setting up a semi-final meeting with world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka or 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who meet later on Wednesday at Roland Garros. Playing in her first career Grand Slam quarter-final, Paolini got off to a confident start, cruising through the opening set but suffered a major wobble when losing four service games in a row across the second and third.
The two players traded four further breaks to open the third set before Paolini finally returned to the level she showed early in the match, taking advantage of a slew of Rybakina errors to earn the decisive break in the ninth game before serving out for a famous victory. 'It's an unbelievable feeling. It was a really tough match,' Paolini said after clinching a semi-final spot.
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