All you need to know about Mirra Andreeva and Jasmine Paolini, the surprise semifinalists of French Open 2024

The 2024 French Open will feature two first-time Grand Slam semifinalists, Mirra Andreeva and Jasmine Paolini. While one is among the most promising young talents in the tennis world right now, the other is an experienced campaigner who has discovered her best form this year.

Mirra Andreeva faced reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal match at the 2024 French Open. Sabalenka, who seemed to be battling health issues during the match, took the first set via tiebreaker.

Andreeva came back more robust in the next two sets. The 17-year-old Russian ousted Sabalenka 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first-ever Major semifinal. Jasmine Paolini, another first-time Grand Slam semifinalist, will be her next opponent. The Italian continued her incredible 2024 performance by defeating No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Now that the two players will be the focus of the tennis world when they step onto the court on June 6, let us take a look at how Mirra Andreeva and Jasmine Paolini got to this point.

Mirra Andreeva

Mirra Andreeva

Mirra Andreeva was born in 2007 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. At the age of 15, she made her WTA Tour debut at the 2023 Jasmin Open in Monastir, Tunisia. She put up an admirable fight during her first-round match against Anastasia Potapova but eventually came up short.

The biggest moment of her young career came at the girls' singles competition at the 2023 Australian Open, where Andreeva finished as the runner-up. The Russian earned a main draw wildcard at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open and stunned the tennis world by defeating Leylah Fernandez, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Magda Linette to reach the fourth round.

As a result, she broke into the top 150 in the WTA Rankings. Andreeva made her Grand Slam debut at the 2023 French Open and continued her promising form on the clay by reaching the third round. The Russian did one better at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships and the 2024 Australian Open, where she finished in the fourth round.

En route to these results, Andreeva picked her first top-10 win (against Ons Jabeur in Melbourne), and now in Paris, the teenager has bettered that record by beating World No. 2, Aryna Sabalenka.

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Jasmine Paolini

Jasmine Paolini

Jasmine Paolini has been grinding it out on the WTA Tour for over seven years. The 28-year-old made her tour debut in the 2017 Swedish Open, but it was not until the 2018 Prague Open that she registered her maiden tour-level victory. The first big moment of Paolini's career came in November 2019, when she reached the final of the Tokyo Open and broke into the top 100 of the WTA Ranking for the first time.

The Italian made her Grand Slam debut at the 2019 French Open but had to wait until the 2020 French Open to win her maiden match at the Grand Slam level. Paolini picked up her first WTA Tour title at the 2021 Slovenia Open, beating Alison Riske in the final.

Then, in 2024, Jasmine Paolini took things to another level. At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round, her best performance at a Grand Slam. This helped her enter the top 25 on the WTA Ranking. The Italian won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships.

This, coupled with fourth-round finishes at the Indian Wells Open and the Italian Open, has helped Paolini reach a career-high ranking of World No. 12. Now, she is all set to make it to the top-10, having reached the semifinals at the clay slam.