Argentinian Podoroska is on a 13-match winning run; Danielle Collins earlier beat Ons Jabeur to book final spot in quarter-final line-up
Tuesday 6 October 2020 21:40, UK
World No 131 Nadia Podoroska became the first qualifier to reach the French Open women's singles semi-finals with victory against third seed Elina Svitolina.
Podoroska, who had never won a Grand Slam main draw match before arriving in Paris, beat Svitolina 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 19 minutes.
Svitolina was the highest ranked player left in the field but she was second best against Podoroska, who is on a 13-match winning run.
Podoroska will next meet Polish teenager Iga Swiatek who beat Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-1.
Podoroska was broken in her opening game of the match but recovered to break world No 5 Svitolina in each of the Ukrainian's three service games to win the first set in 34 minutes.
Svitolina, who had not lost a set in her previous four matches, broke first again in the second set but it only started a run of six successive breaks of serve.
Podoroska, who had outmanoeuvred Svitolina from the back of the court and unsettled her opponent with drop shots, sealed victory with a forehand winner on her third match point.
"It's a little bit difficult for me to speak," Podoroska said. "Thank you everybody for your support, I'm very happy."
Swiatek, 19, backed up her victory against world No 1 Simona Halep with another impressive win to end the run of Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan under the lights on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
A marathon encounter in the men's singles which saw Diego Schwartzman outlast Dominic Thiem over five gruelling sets led to Swiatek and Trevisan beginning their match around 9pm local time.
Swiatek, the world No 54, was broken in the opening game of the match but recovered from 3-1 down to win five successive games to take the first set.
The Pole, who fired 20 winners and converted six of her 11 break points, maintained her ascendency to clinch a straight-sets win against Trevisan, who was bidding to ensure a qualifier would play in the final of a Grand Slam for the first time in the Open era.
Earlier, in a match held over from Monday because of bad weather, American Danielle Collins completed the quarter-final line-up with victory against 30th seed Ons Jabeur.
Collins won 6-4 4-6 6-4 to reach the last eight at Roland Garros for the first time, where she will face compatriot Sofia Kenin on Wednesday.
The world No 57 has won all three of her previous matches against fourth seed and Australian Open champion Kenin, who beat home hope Fiona Ferro on Monday.
Collins appeared in complete command when she led by a set and 3-0, but Tunisian Jabeur responded to win five consecutive games on her way to levelling up the match.
The deciding third set saw both players struggle behind their serve with six breaks of serve in the opening seven games, before Collins broke once again when Jabeur netted a forehand on her first match point.
"I felt I was in the driver's seat until 6-4 3-0 [but] she's tricky, served really well and hit some drop shots I wasn't expecting," said Collins, who began working with former top-10 player Nicolas Almagro last week.
"I had to try and dig it out. It broke my rhythm. I lost my way there a little bit, lost some of the shots I'd been hitting earlier and I needed to try and stay positive."
Don't forget to follow us on skysports.com/tennis, our Twitter account @skysportstennis & Sky Sports - on the go! Available to download now on - iPhone & iPad and Android
