One of the big stories building at Roland Garros this year was the increasing dominance of the world’s top women.

Rarely has the women’s event “gone to plan” in Paris recently – in fact, this was the first time all top four seeds had reached the second week in more than a decade.

All four reigning Grand Slam champions were appearing in the quarterfinals at the same major since the 2012 US Open, and there were five major champions overall among the last eight, something that hadn’t happened since Australian Open 2013.

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On Tuesday, both top seed Iga Swiatek and No.3 seed Coco Gauff triumphed to confirm their projected semifinal meeting. On Wednesday. No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and fourth seed Elena Rybakina were expected to do the same.

This would have marked the first time all top-four women’s seeds had progressed to the Roland Garros semifinals since 1992, and at any of the four Slams in 15 years.

But then Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva came along.

In back-to-back matches, the diminutive Italian and the teen phenom completed stunning three-set victories over Rybakina and Sabalenka, upending the draw while creating an incredible opportunity for themselves.

On Thursday, in what will be a first Grand Slam semifinal for both, they will compete for a place in the Roland Garros final.

“I step on court and I say to myself that I have a chance to win. (Previously) when I was playing against the top players, I was, like, I need a miracle to win this match.”

Jasmine Paolini

These quarterfinal results have ripple effects beyond the tournament.

Paolini will debut in the top 10, while Sabalenka’s defeat means Gauff replaces her as the new world No.2.

Sabalenka’s loss to Andreeva was perhaps the more seismic result of the two upsets, given how successful she had become at Grand Slam level.

The AO 2024 champion had never lost any of her eight previous major quarterfinals, winning all of them in straight sets.

She had reached the semifinals at eight of her previous 10 majors, and since the beginning of 2023 she was 34-3 in Grand Slam matches.

She had comfortably won her previous two meetings with Andreeva, most recently a 6-1 6-4 victory last month in Madrid.

And despite battling with a stomach bug, she clinched a tight opening set over Andreeva at Court Philippe Chatrier – her 23rd consecutive Grand Slam set won this year.

But Andreeva, the cleverest of match players despite only recently turning 17, worked her way back.

From a break down in both sets, Andreeva extended rallies, anticipated where Sabalenka would send her drives, and finished with an excellent tally of 43 winners over 26 unforced errors.

The last of those winners – a delightful lob – sealed victory after two-and-a-half hours.

It is astonishing when you recall that, less than 18 months ago, Andreeva was a losing finalist in the Australian Open 2023 girls’ singles event.

“My ex-coach at that time told me … when you will be winning a lot of Slams and when you will be on top, you will not even remember when you lost the Australian Open singles juniors final,” said Andreeva, who is now working with 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.

“I think that made me stronger in a mental way, so maybe that’s good that it happened.

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“Before the match (against Sabalenka), I was very nervous. I would say that in the beginning I didn’t really believe it, because, I mean, she’s very experienced. She has two slams in her pocket. She’s a great player, very aggressive.

“When I won second set and I was up in the score in the third, I was, like … I’m really close to win. But the second I thought about that, I lost my serve and I lost her serve, so I was down in the score.

“So I just told myself, well, don’t think about that ever again. Just play, because when you just play and you don’t think about anything, you play the best.”

Speaking of an impressive winners-to-errors ratio, Paolini racing through the first set against Rybakina thanks to eight winners and just a single unforced error.

A win for the rising Italian would have been less of a shock, given her impressive 2024 season; she reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park then hoisted the WTA 1000 trophy in Dubai, a result catapulting her into the top 15.

READ MORE: Jasmine Paolini’s journey at AO 2024

But she remained the underdog against fourth-ranked Rybakina, a winner of three titles and 34 matches so far this season, and the only player to defeat Swiatek on clay in 2024.

Harnessing her power, Rybakina wrenched the second set from Paolini despite twice going down a break, and nudged ahead 4-3 in the third.

Here, Paolini made her move, winning 12 of the last 15 points as Rybakina sent a backhand long – her 48th unforced error of the match.

“Today was the perfect day, I think, singles and doubles,” said Paolini, also into the women’s doubles semifinals with countrywoman Sara Errani.

“I think I started to play better with more consistency last year… match by match I felt more convinced that I can play at the higher level. But it was a process. Is not like I switch something.

FEMALE NEW WAVE: Jasmine Paolini

“I step on court and I say to myself that I have a chance to win the match. (Previously) when I was playing against the top players, I was, like, okay, I need a miracle to win this match. So I was already losing the match before even playing.”

And so, instead of an Australian Open 2023 final rematch between Sabalenka and Rybakina, we have an intriguing duel set between Paolini and Andreeva.

It has already been a breakout tournament for both.

And for one of them, it does not stop here.