Best of Roland Garros Round 4: Chwalinska shines, Kalinskaya climbs and Sabalenka dances

The final eight in Paris is set.

Roland Garros: Scores | Order of play | Draws 

A fourth round that began with Sorana Cirstea clinching her first Roland Garros quarterfinal in 17 years ended with Aryna Sabalenka dazzling once more in a straight-sets win over former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka on Monday night.

Along the way, a pair of players reached their first Grand Slam quarterfinals, while two others became Roland Garros quarterfinalists for the first time.

Among them is Maja Chwalinska, who continued her improbable rise from qualifier to becoming the fourth Polish player in the Open Era to reach a women’s singles Grand Slam quarterfinal, joining Agnieszka Radwanska, Iga Swiatek and Magda Linette.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Diana Shnaider, who has ranked as high as No. 11 and won five WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz titles, and who broke through by beating Madison Keys to reach her first Major quarterfinal.

Marta Kostyuk, still undefeated on clay this season, and Anna Kalinskaya each advanced to their second Grand Slam quarterfinal after making their first at the 2024 Australian Open. Kostyuk upset Swiatek, a four-time Roland Garros champion, in straight sets, while Kalinskaya prevailed over Anastasia Potapova -- who had just beaten defending champion Coco Gauff -- in a third-set super tiebreak.

Rounding out the fourth-round winners are Elina Svitolina and Mirra Andreeva. Both are familiar faces at this stage. Svitolina is into her sixth Roland Garros quarterfinal, while Andreeva has now reached the final eight for the third straight year.

My oh Maja

There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the run Chwalinska is on in Paris, but let’s try: amazing, magnificent, spectacular, awe-inspiring, stunning, breathtaking, unbelievable.

Whew. Out of breath. Long story short, what the 24-year-old has done in winning seven matches just to reach this stage is nothing short of incredible. Her latest act might have been her best yet, as she handily defeated local favorite Diane Parry 6-3, 6-2 in front of the French fans on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday.

How’s that for aura-farming?

She’ll now meet Kalinskaya in the quarterfinals, as both players look to make their first Grand Slam semifinal. Once again, she’ll enter as the underdog, but that hasn’t meant the darndest thing so far in this tournament.

The sky is the limit for Kalinskaya

The sentiment around Kalinskaya lately has been that she is the most talented player on tour to never…well, you know.

A rather unfortunate title to hold, the biggest of those superlatives is “best to never win a WTA singles title.” But her response to that critique can now be that she’s a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist after winning a thriller over Potapova on Monday. She defeated the No. 28 seed 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7) despite watching her opponent serve for the match twice.

Kalinskaya broke both times in a remarkable show of grit to send things to a super tiebreak, where she reminded everyone what a talent she remains at just 27.

In other words, the sky is the limit for Kalinskaya -- in the future, yes, but especially in this tournament. Like Chwalinska, their upcoming meeting is her golden ticket to the semis. Were she to get there, she’d have a one-in-four chance at a Roland Garros title, and you can bet she very likely would’ve taken those odds entering the tournament.

Sabalenka stays dancing

Of course, she’d likely have to get through Sabalenka if that were the case, and that’s no small feat. Ask Osaka, who played lights-out tennis at times Monday, but it simply wasn’t enough as Sabalenka battled to a 7-5, 6-3 win in just under 90 minutes.

Afterwards, she danced.

Prior to their marquee matinee, the talk of the town for much of the day centered on Serena Williams, who announced her upcoming return to professional tennis at Queen’s Club after retiring nearly four years ago at the 2022 US Open.

Serena is viewed by many as the G.O.A.T -- and for good reason -- but Sabalenka continued to show why she is the “Greatest of Right Now,” as the current World No. 1 cemented herself as the favorite to win her first Roland Garros title later this week.

Return of odds and ends

• Three matches went three sets in the fourth round, although two of them ended with 6-0 scorelines in the decider. Those two matches have been removed from contention. Which leaves match-of-the-round honors to be decided between Sabalenka vs. Osaka and Kalinskaya vs. Potapova. The edge goes to the latter, as the drama in the third set and ensuing super tiebreak alone makes it hard to top.

• At 2 hours and 49 minutes, it also goes down as the longest match of the round. It wasn’t quite the marathon that Osorio vs. Putintseva produced earlier in the tournament, but it still would’ve made for a lengthy feature film.
• The “Match to Watch” of the quarterfinals is Svitolina vs. Kostyuk. That shouldn’t require much explanation, but here it goes: Rome champion vs. Madrid champion, the lone matchup of Top 15 players, both in arguably the best form of their careers, and of course, they’re compatriots. This all-Ukrainian derby is loaded with intrigue. And it’s a rubber match!