The China Mail - 'In the zone' Andreeva romps into French Open semis

The Russian eighth seed needed just under an hour on Court Philippe Chatrier to reach the last four at Roland Garros for the second time in three years.

Andreeva, 19, reached the last eight in 2025 before falling in straight sets to French sensation Lois Boisson.

When rain started falling over the French capital on Tuesday morning and Andreeva realised the match would take place under a closed roof, she said she started immediately having flashbacks to her bad-tempered loss from 12 months ago.

"I was actually joking a little bit this morning, because it was raining, and I knew that we would play with a closed roof. I was just saying that I have little bit of flashbacks to last year," she said.

"I was just trying to have flashbacks only about the weather and only about the court with closed roof, not about how I played."

However, she need not have worried as she flew out of the traps to race through the first set in a mere 24 minutes.

"I honestly didn't expect that (winning the first set to love)... Let's start with me having an amazing warm-up before the match on the court," she said.

"I felt like I didn't miss one ball during the warm-up, so I kind of got a little bit nervous after that, because usually when you have an amazing warm-up, you don't play the same way during the match.

"But, I don't know, I just found myself being very, very focused, very aggressive, going for my shots all the time. I don't know what happened, but I was just, like, in the zone, I guess."

- 'Like for her to win' -

Two years on from her only previous semi-final run at a major, the former world number five said she was "super happy" to be back in the last four at Roland Garros.

"It's kind of a long time. I would say that I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if I was not able to reach the semis of another Grand Slam, then I guess that's what should have happened," she added.

Andreeva will face 15th seed Marta Kostyuk on Thursday for a spot in the final.

It will be a rematch of last month's Madrid Open title-decider, which the 23-year-old Ukrainian won in straight sets.

The crushing defeat to Andreeva brought to an end a fairytale run for 36-year-old Cirstea, who will retire at the end of the season. The in-form Romanian reached the quarter-finals in Paris for the first time since 2009.

"I think it was a great tournament and also a very good clay-court season... I'm very happy. Today, unfortunately, Mirra was way too strong," Cirstea said.

The pair, regular hitting partners, shared a warm embrace at the net at the end of the match.

"I absolutely adore Mirra. She's such a wonderful girl," Cirstea said. "I would really like for her to win this one."

R.Yeung--ThChM