PARIS — We’re down to the final four at Roland Garros, and two first-time Grand Slam finalists and therefore a new Grand Slam champion are guaranteed in Paris. Two semifinals will take place Thursday to determine who will compete for the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen on Saturday.
First, in a rematch of the Madrid Open final, World No. 15 Marta Kostyuk eyes her third final during the Clay-Court swing on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz against two-time Roland Garros semifinalist Mirra Andreeva. In an unexpected matchup, No. 25 seed Diana Shnaider encounters the Cinderella run of World No. 114 qualifier Maja Chwalinska in both players’ first Grand Slam semifinal.
Here’s everything to know about Thursday’s semifinals:
Order of play: June 4
Philippe Chatrier
12:00 p.m. local: Mixed doubles
3:00 p.m. local: [15] Marta Kostyuk vs. [8] Mirra Andreeva
Followed by: [25] Diana Shnader vs. [Q] Maja Chwalinska
No. 8 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 15 Marta Kostyuk
Head-to-Head: Kostyuk leads 2-0
Last meeting: Kostyuk d. Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 at 2026 Madrid final
Kostyuk enters Thursday’s semifinal on a 17-match winning streak and unbeaten on clay, but when you ask her about, the streak is not particularly important to her.
She comes off a historic, first all-Ukrainian Grand Slam quarterfinal against World No. 7 Elina Svitolina, and she’ll next face an opponent she’s beaten twice this season. Kostyuk won in straight-sets against Andreeva recently to win her third-career WTA title in Madrid, and at the Brisbane International quarterfinals, where she eventually reached the final.
“At this stages you cannot just get by,” Kostyuk said to press Tuesday about defeating Svitolina in three sets. “You have to win the match. Nobody is going to give it to you. For sure this is something that I’m most proud of.”
Kostyuk has credited much of her recent success to her coach, Sandra Zaniewska, a partnership that began in 2023, but has seen the success blossom over the course of the 2026 season.
“We have much more success right now obviously, and I think she deserves it all because she really gave her soul for this work with me,” Kostyuk said. “She changed me so much as a person. I think we both changed, we’ve both grown together in this working relationship. I definitely wouldn’t be here without her.”
Andreeva’s been near the finish line twice in Paris, but fell in the semifinals two years ago to Jasmine Paolini and in the quarterfinals last year to Lois Boisson. The World No. 8 looked dominant as ever in her 56-minute win over veteran Sorana Cirstea, and aside from dropping the first set in her second round match, hasn’t been near any danger of elimination thus far.
The stakes are much higher, however, and Andreeva’s opponent is playing the best tennis of her career and the best of anyone on the WTA Tour. She’ll have to combat Kostyuk’s height, which can play favor to the higher bounces and power behind her forehand.
“I guess kind of last time I was in semis was two years ago, so it’s kind of a long time,” Andreeva said. “I would say that I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if I was not able to reach, you know, the semis of another Grand Slam, then I guess that’s what should have happened.
“I think that I’m just going to try to keep using the same mindset of giving my best, giving my 100% no matter what happens. I feel like it’s just easier for me to play when I have this mindset on.”
No. 25 Diana Shnaider vs. Maja Chwalinska
Head-to-Head: Shnaider leads 1-0
Last meeting: Shnaider d. Chwalinska 6-4, 6-4 at 2022 Istanbul semifinals (ITF)
A semifinal that was highly unlikely, Shnaider enters the matchup off her biggest win of her career — a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 upset of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Shnaider, down 4-1 in the second set, was a game away from losing in straight sets, but won the last 10 games to knock off the top player in the world.
“Obviously I understand that I’m playing World No. 1, Aryna, who is super-aggressive tennis player,” Shnaider said. “The conditions are tough, and I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself.
“[At] 5-3, I have to change something up now. I feel like I kind of just had the relief where I was, I gotta go for my shots, I have to be more aggressive, I got to step in, because she’s pushing me too much back and just winning those short rallies.”
She’s now has third-set blanks of Sabalenka and Madison Keys in back-to-back matches, and the lefty’s aggressive play-style has paved her way through to the final four. Thursday’s semifinal will be just the third time in the Open Era that two left-handed players compete in the Grand Slam singles semifinal, joining Monica Seles-Martina Navratilova (Wimbledon 1992) and Petra Kvitova-Lucie Safarova (Wimbledon 2014).
Chwalinska’s dream run continued on Wednesday, defeating No. 22 seed Anna Kalinskaya to book her place in the semifinals. She’s now the sixth qualifier in the Open Era to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam, and second at Roland Garros.
Remarkably, it’s just Chwalinska’s third Grand Slam main draw, and first in Paris. Prior to the 2026 French Open, she had never beat a top 50 opponent, and now she’s beaten three in Elise Mertens, Maria Sakkari and now Kalinskaya. She also beat Zheng Qinwen and Diane Parry along the way, and across her eight matches — three qualifiers, five main-draw — she’s won seven of eight in straight sets.
Her crafty game that employs a mixture of lofted balls, slices and more has been tricky for opponents to solve.
“I just try to change the rhythm a lot,” Chwalinska said. “I feel like it’s pretty tough to play against this kind of style, because you don’t have any rhythm, and you just need to be very focused because every ball can be different.
“I’m aware that it can be very annoying for other players. I just try to use [slice] as much as I can.”
