Madison Keys, the last American woman competing in the singles draw of the 2026 French Open, fell to Russia’s Diana Shnaider 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 during fourth-round play on Monday in Paris.
The 19th-seeded Keys entered the match 3-0 in her career against No. 25 Shnaider, but was done in by poor serving (four double faults to two aces) and 50 unforced errors against 27 winners.
Of those errors, 19 came in a disastrous third set where Keys won just 11 of 37 points.
The 2025 Australian Open champion, Keys reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2018 but hasn’t returned to that level since. She finished in the quarterfinals twice, including last year.
With the win, Shnaider advances to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in her career. The 22-year-old reached the fourth round of the 2024 U.S. Open but was unable to break through to the quarterfinals prior to this victory, which snapped an eight-match losing streak against top-20 opponents.
“Definitely super happy and proud of myself,” Shnaider said after her win. “Went on court today thinking about, just, I need to grind (Monday). Definitely clay, a little different conditions than hard courts. So, just tried to be more consistent today with trying to use more spin, more high balls, and then just putting more balls and trying to decrease my unforced errors, but then at the same time, have an opportunity to be more aggressive.”
Shnaider will face top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the runner-up at last year’s French Open, in a quarterfinal.
Sabalenka continued her relentless charge toward a maiden French Open crown as she overcame the resistance of Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-3.
In the first women’s night-session match at Roland Garros in three years, Sabalenka recovered from a shaky start to reach the last eight.
Sabalenka, who has now reached at least the quarterfinals in her last 14 Grand Slam appearances, set up a last-eight meeting with Russian Diana Shnaider.
“She is such a great player, she plays a super aggressive tennis. I’m happy with how I was able to put back the pressure on her. It’s amazing to play the night session in front of all of you guys,” Sabalenka said on court before showing off a ‘moon walk’ to the Philippe Chatrier crowd.
“I’m super happy with my serve. I’m super pleased overall with the performance today.”
Osaka opened a 2-0 lead courtesy of a Sabalenka double fault but the Belarusian immediately broke back and stole her opponent’s serve decisively for 6-5 lead, whipping a powerful service return that the 16th seed could not control, her backhand failing to clear the net.
Following a tough hold for 3-3, Sabalenka broke for 4-3, ending a long rally with a subtle half volley.
Osaka, who was playing in the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time, did not have more in the tank and she lost the remaining games, bowing out on Sabalenka’s first match point. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
In other Monday action, Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska kept her stunning run going with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of France’s Diane Parry to reach the quarterfinals.
Chwalinkska — the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since Nadia Podoroska and Martina Trevisan in 2020 — saved the only break point she faced on her serve while converting 3 of 6 on Parry’s serve. While they both had 21 winners, Parry had nearly three times as many errors (38-14).
Next up will be No. 22 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, who beat No. 28 Anastasia Potapova of Austria 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7) in a 2-hour, 49-minute marathon to reach her second Slam quarterfinal.
It was a defensive battle, as both competitors won fewer than 50% of their service points, with Kalinskaya converting 8 of 12 break points while Potapova converted 9 of 14. Kalinskaya won despite committing 58 unforced errors and being broken three times in the final set.
“A really long fight from both of us ’til the last seconds,” Kalinskaya said. “I’ve played her many times, but this one was definitely special. She improved a lot, so today was super challenging.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Madison Keys, last U.S. woman remaining, bows out of French Open
Reporting by Detroit News wire services / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
