PARIS (Reuters) - Timea Bacsinszky's day started with a nightmare but ended as a dream.
The Swiss reached the French Open semi-finals for the second time, with a rain-interrupted 6-4 6-4 victory against local favourite Kristina Mladenovic, where she will face Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko.
Despite the tough conditions and the partisan crowd, the 30th seed managed to control her emotions to produce her best tennis, after having a nightmare in her sleep and waking up nervous.
"I really get nervous. Last night I went to bed more or less at 11:00. I woke up at 4:00," she told a news conference.
"Could not sleep for an hour. Went back to sleep. Woke up earlier than my alarm. My heart was beating. Like, it was a rush."
That came at the end of an agitated night for Bacsinszky, who explained her nightmare.
"I remember that I had, like, three towels that I wanted to give to my siblings because I have three, but I forgot them in the closet," she said.
"So it was a big drama, so I could not get into the plane without giving the towels of the French Open, and I woke up and I was sweating. It was terrible for me.
"So probably if I would not be playing a quarter-final of a grand slam, I would probably not have these kind of nightmare issues."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
