Polish teenager Iga Swiatek recovered from a nervy start to outclass Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-1 and move into the French Open semi-finals on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old, who thrashed Romania’s top seed Simona Halep on Sunday to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final, looked tight as she trailed 3-1 after a long wait to get on court but then took charge with some aggressive hitting.
She is the first Polish woman to reach the French Open semi-finals since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska was runner-up in 1939.
Former Wimbledon junior champion Swiatek won eight games in a row to move within three games of victory before tricky left-hander Trevisan stopped the rot with a break of serve.
However, a crushing forehand winner by Swiatek in the following game resumed the onslaught and she romped to her fifth straight-sets victory in a row on the Paris clay.
“It was pretty hard at the beginning because it was hard to get used to the conditions, and also I played all my other matches at 11am so it was like playing in the middle of the night,” she said on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“But I’m pretty happy with my performance.”
Petra Kvitova was so nervous ahead of Wednesday’s match against Laura Siegemund that she did not want to play, but the Czech was glad she was able to hold her nerve and reach the French Open semi-finals again after an eight-year gap.
The seventh seed, a two-times Wimbledon champion, had not lost a set coming into her quarter-final against the 66th-ranked Siegemund, who was appearing in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“Since I woke up today I felt pretty nervous,” Kvitova, 30, told reporters. “I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to go out there and play. But I knew if I step out there everything will be much better.
“I’m glad even though I had those nerves which was really big, was the biggest in this tournament, I still found a way and played great tennis.”
Kvitova started on an aggressive note, serving strongly while using her powerful groundstrokes to hit winners on Court Philippe Chatrier on the way to a 6-3 6-3 win.
Fourth seed Sofia Kenin claimed her maiden French Open semi-final spot as she fought to a 6-4 4-6 6-0 victory against fellow American Danielle Collins on Wednesday.
The Australian Open champion was kept on her toes for two sets by an opponent who had beaten her in their previous encounters before strolling through the decider to set up a clash with Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova.
Collins was bothered by abdominal pains in the third set, looking unable to give her maximum effort in the finale on court Philippe Chatrier.
“This is really special, I’m super happy. I know she plays really aggressive so I needed to have a better first serve percentage and play aggressive myself; I did a great job overall,” said Kenin, who won four of her five matches at Roland Garros in three sets.
“I guess I like winning in three sets. I know it’s tough but I’m getting the job done.”
Argentine Nadia Podoroska became the first qualifier to reach the French Open semi-finals in the women’s singles draw when she downed Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-4 on Tuesday.
The world number 131, on her second appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam, emulates Belgium’s Filip Dewulf, the only qualifier in either of the singles draws since tennis turned professional in 1968 to make it to the last four at Roland Garros, in 1997.
“It’s a little bit difficult for me to speak after the match, thank you everybody for your support, I’m very very happy,” Podoroska said on court Philippe Chatrier.
“We did a very good job with my coaches during quarantine. That’s why I’m here today.”
Svitolina, one of the pre-tournament favourites after winning the Strasbourg International last month, was on the back foot throughout, failing at the last-eight stage for the third time at the claycourt Grand Slam.
