Argentina's Nadia Podoroska became the first qualifier in the open round on Tuesday, beating stunning third seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the women's semifinals at the Roland Garros.
World No. 13 Podoroska has never won a
Grand Slam draw before the tournament and is the first Argentine woman to reach
the last four of a major since Paula Suarez in Paris in 2004.
Podoroska, 23, will face off against
Polish teenager Elina Svitolina or Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan for a place
in Saturday's final.
"It's a little difficult for me to
speak now after the match," said Podoroska, whose only second Grand Slam
came at the 2016 US Open.
"We did a great job with our coaches
during the (coronavirus) quarantine. I am training a lot with my whole team. I
think that's why I'm here today."
It was the first time Podoroska had even
faced a player in the top 20, who had been downgraded’ to 255 at the start of
the year.
Svitolina lost in the third quarter-final,
as did Roland Gere’s in several attempts, and at this stage in 2015 and 2017.
Ukraine beat only eight winners - each
time they quit - when they suffered their worst defeat to a major defeat in
terms of their opponents' rankings.
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