Here is Kevin Mitchell’s report.
That’s all from me today. Thanks a lot for following along and we will be back tomorrow for a very exciting men’s semi-finals day as Novak Djokovic faces Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman takes on Rafael Nadal.
After the men’s semi-finals, Iga Swiatek and Sofia Kenin will return on Saturday for the women’s final. While Swiatek has played at an incredible level throughout the tournament, Kenin is getting the hang of bringing her best tennis in the big moments of big matches and she will look to neutralise Swiatek’s aggression and creativity. It will hopefully be the first of many big meetings to come.
Here is Iga Swiatek on her surprise run to the final without dropping a set.
“Actually it’s hard to believe. I think it’s going to hit me, like, after the tournament. Right now I’m just living the dream. I just want to focus on the other matches, on doubles. I’m going to enjoy everything after. Right now I’m still on adrenaline, so yeah, it’s hard to believe that.
I know winning final, it’s going to be a tough match. It’s still long way because I’m going to play against more experienced players. They’ve been in a situation like that. Again, I’m going to be, like, an underdog, if you could say something about that, to the finalist. Yeah, it’s going to be a tough match. Yeah, I’m going to just stay focused.”
Swiatek only recently finished high school, which is something she had been combining with her tennis travels for a long time. She said in the past that she was viewing her next few years of tennis as a gap year before she decided whether or not to enrol in university if she wasn’t as successful as she hoped. So far, she is exceeding expectations:
“Well, right now it’s going to be hard to make a decision to go back to studying because I feel like really I can achieve big things. I just want to focus on that. But really I’m only 19, so a lot can change during few years. We going to see.
Maybe I’m going to be, like, hungry for knowledge or anything. Really I’m not going to make decision right now. Right now it would be hard for me to study in this tournament and after. So I’m just going to focus on doing tennis, tennis-related stuff, as good as I can. I’m just going to deal with it later.
But really I think if I’m going to be in a few finals of Grand Slams, it would be, like, impossible to study and playing that kind of tennis consistently. I’m just going to see how the situation develops. “
French Open juniors 2016, third round 👀
— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) October 8, 2020
I just love that in tennis, you *never* know when a match like this has "future major final" written across it.
Think this could be quite the battle come Saturday #RG20 pic.twitter.com/0gBDUwOWCn
This year’s Roland Garros final will pit two rising stars against each other as 19 year-old Iga Swiatek faces 21 year-old Sofia Kenin. It seems clear that a new generation is rising on the WTA, and rising fast. Here are the last 8 women’s slam champions and their ages at the time of their victory:
US Open 2018: Naomi Osaka (20 years old)
Australian Open 2019: Naomi Osaka (21 years old)
French Open 2019: Ashleigh Barty (23 years old)
Wimbledon 2019: Simona Halep (27 years old)
US Open 2019: Bianca Andreescu (19 years old)
Australian Open 2020: Sofia Kenin (21 years old)
US Open 2020: Naomi Osaka (22 years old)
French Open 2020: Sofia Kenin (21 years old) or Iga Swiatek (19 years old)
Ashleigh Barty (pandemic) Naomi Osaka (injury/pandemic), Bianca Andreescu (injury) all skipped Roland Garros this year. If they can all remain healthy and compete at the same time from 2021 onwards, the future is very exciting.
See ya soon, Iga 👋@SofiaKenin passes the Kvitova test 6-4 7-5 to reach a first #RolandGarros final and improve to 16-1 in Grand Slams this season.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/MjHYqz2YYs
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 8, 2020
🇵🇱 Pride@iga_swiatek #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Ofdv5yTQtx
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 8, 2020
Sofia Kenin on whether her slam title gives her more confidence:
Yeah, I’ve done it in Australia. I’ve had really tough matches over the past two weeks and I’m so excited to be in the final. I think it’s just incredible. I’m just gonna enjoy this moment today and then start preparing for the final tomorrow.
After her loud cheering during the match, just a small fistpump from Kenin as she won. There is more work to be done.
Although she lost in straight sets and the windy conditions were not to her liking, Kvitova had her chances. From the end of the first set, she pushed Kenin to deuce in 4 of 5 service games, generating numerous break points, but almost every single time it was Kenin who stepped up and was gutsy with her the back to the wall.
Kenin is not the most spectacular player out there and others receive more hype, even now that she is a slam champion. Some hit harder than her and there are even more impressive athletes, but despite how underrated she remains, she is very good. The 21 year-old’s combination of guts and intelligence is going to win her many matches. Now she is in another slam final.
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Sofia Kenin beats Petra Kvitova 6-4 7-5 to reach her second slam final of 2020
After failing to serve out the match the first time, such an impressive recovery from Kenin to see out another huge win. Few players play the big points as well as she does, and that is why she is in her second slam final of the year.
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Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *6-5 Petra Kvitova
Incredibly, Kenin breaks straight back and she will serve for the match again. Desperate, nervy times for both players, but surprisingly it was Kenin who was willing to step up and take the ball on. She opened the game by lasering a couple of backhands to lead 0-30. After missing a complete sitter at 0-30, she immediately responded by forcing an error with a deep backhand down the middle. On her first game point, she ground down Kvitova’s backhand wing until it elicited an error.
Kvitova serve let her down when she really needed it there and Kenin made her pay.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 5-5* Petra Kvitova
Kvitova breaks back! Kenin was clearly nervous and the wind also picked up. Under those conditions, Kvitova smartly just made sure that she put returns in court down the middle, forcing Kenin to take the initiative. Kenin responded with three errors to immediately fall down 0-40.
Kenin saved the first break point with a big crosscourt backhand that just kissed the baseline. She then sent another backhand into the net. If Kvitova can hold, this could be significant.
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Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *5-4 Petra Kvitova
Kvitova forces Kenin to serve out the match, but only just. Things were not looking good at 15-30, but Kvitova found an excellent angle on her lefty sliding serve to produce a service winner. At 30-30, she sent Kenin wide with a backhand crosscourt, forcing a forehand error. She finished with a big forehand down-the-line winner.
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Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 5-3* Petra Kvitova
Kenin moves to within a game of her first Roland Garros final with an easy hold to 15, a rarity in this set. She sealed it with two successive big serves, including an ace on game point, to march on. There was, of course, another cry of “c’mon”.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *4-3 Petra Kvitova
Kvitova responded really well there, flitting through a love hold with some big serving. The question is whether she can stand up in one of these tight games, as Kenin so often has, and find a way back into this match.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 4-2* Petra Kvitova
Kenin saves four break points to consolidate her break. Kenin initially led 40-15, pummeling the ball to save both game points on her terms. At deuce, Kvitova produced perhaps her shot of the match, a whistling forehand down the line winner off a very good slice from Kenin to generate break point.
Kenin saved the first break point with a solid unreturned first serve. After double faulting at deuce, Kenin saved the second break point with a huge crosscourt backhand winner after another good first serve. She saved the third with an excellent forehand down the line winner. She saved the fourth break point by chasing down a Kvitova drop-shot and curling a sliced forehand past her. Finally, Kenin produced two bold point-ending backhands from deuce to secure the game.
Incredible work from Kenin, really. There have been so many tight games in this set and Kenin has won almost every one.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *3-2 Petra Kvitova
Kenin breaks, and she did so with some incredible ad-court returning. After Kvitova moved up 40-30, Kenin saved the break point by producing another mischievous drop shot winner off a second serve, with Kvitova not even bothering to chase it down.
Kenin saved a second game point with an excellent winning backhand cross-court return. After a netted Kvitova backhand brought up a break point, Kenin found another beautiful angled return. This time Kvitova managed to reach the ball and land her forehand, but Kenin calmly curled her forehand into the open court.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 2-2* Petra Kvitova
Kenin saves break point to survive another very tough hold and stop Kvitova from building any momentum. After moving to break point at 30-40 with a searing inside-out forehand winner, once again Kenin found her first serve when needed and Kvitova missed three returns long in the tight deuce game that followed. Not for the first or last ime, Kenin dismounted with a loud cry of ‘c’mon’ after another Kvitova forehand error.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *1-2 Petra Kvitova
A good effort from Kvitova, who was victim of a great passing shot from Kenin at 30-15, but she immediately returned to the net on the very next point, forcing a Kenin backhand error with a vicious crosscourt forehand approach shot.
Kvitova missed a backhand at 40-30, but she found two big first serves from deuce. After a welcome service winner, she landed a typical serve-forehand 1-2 punch, placing her down-the-line forehand into the open court.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 1-1* Petra Kvitova
The key stat of the match so far is on Kenin’s serve. She has served at 79% so far and she won only 1/7 points behind her second serve in the first set. She needs to keep that level of serving up.
Second set: Sofia Kenin 6-4 *0-1 Petra Kvitova
Kvitova opens with a quick, drama-free hold to 15, winning four successive points from 0-15 down. She served well and easily found her forehand behind her serve. More service games like that would be very good for her.
Winners and unforced errors:
- Sofia Kenin - 7 winners, 7 unforced errors
- Petra Kvitova - 13 winners, 12 unforced errors
Both players can take heart of that set. Kvitova’s level has improved and she can hope to bounce back at the beginning of set two, while Kenin is one set away.
Sofia Kenin leads Petra Kvitova 6-4
Kvitova played much better in the second half of the set, but not good enough in Kenin’s final service games. Some great ball striking from Kvitova pulled her to 0-30. After Kvitova missed a backhand return, Kenin came up with a moment of inspiration in a long, intense point at 15-30, throwing in an excellent drop shot winner on the 15th stroke.
After a few too many errors from Kvitova, Kenin took the first set on her second set point with an unreturned first serve.
Updated
First set: Sofia Kenin *5-4 Petra Kvitova
This continues to be a big improvement from Kvitova, who breezes through a quick love hold with some great serving, putting pressure on Kenin to serve out the first set.
First set: Sofia Kenin 5-3* Petra Kvitova
Kvitova is finally starting to crush the ball off the ground and find her timing, but somehow Kenin survives a break point to hold. After sending a forehand long off an average Kvitova drop shot, from 30-40 down Kenin produced an unreturned serve and an ace on consecutive points. Kvitova finally landed a great return on Kenin’s game point, pushing Kenin far behind the baseline, but she sent her forehand long.
First set: Sofia Kenin *4-3 Petra Kvitova
Kvitova opened this service game with a couple of poor errors once again, but from 15-30 down she produced three excellent first serves, including two successive aces, to recover and hold. Two games in a row for Kvitova.
First set: Sofia Kenin 4-2* Petra Kvitova
Kvitova had to change something, so she removed her bandana at the change of ends. It seems to have worked. She burst to 0-40 after slipping a backhand past Kenin at the net, nailing a crosscourt forehand winner and then forcing an error from Kenin with an excellent deep return to her feet. Great ballstriking.
After two break points passed her by, she broke on an incredible point. After chasing down a drop shot and intelligently wrong-footing Kenin by pushing her response into the corner down-the-line, Kenin’s response seemed to be falling into the net. Instead, it rolled onto the tape and dropped over. Kvitova, who clearly thought the point was over, quickly responded with a counter drop shot good enough to finish the point. We will see if she can settle down now.
First set: Sofia Kenin *4-1 Petra Kvitova
As well as Kenin has started, Kvitova has looked nervous after the first game and this match is moving fast. At 0-15, Kvitova had an easy backhand to put away, but she sent it straight at Kenin who eventually slotted a backhand past Kvitova as she stood stranded at the net. After an excellent return winner from Kenin at 15-30, Kvitova closed off the game with a backhand error that was closer to the back fence than the baseline. This will not do.
First set: Sofia Kenin 3-1* Petra Kvitova
This has been a supreme start from Kenin, who is serving very well and has landed all but one first serves. At 15-15, she slammed down the first ace of the match. Then she cracked open the court with a lovely angled forehand, moving Kvitova from side to side before placing a cross-court forehand winner. She closed it off at 40-15 with a big unreturned serve. Three games in a row for Kenin.
First set: Sofia Kenin *2-1 Petra Kvitova
Kenin makes the first move with a break to 15. Surprisingly, it was the American who provided the first exclamation mark of the match, daringly stepping inside the baseline to return a Kvitova second serve and shocking Kvitova with a drop shot return winner. After a couple of loose errors from Kvitova, Kenin landed a great down-the-line forehand return to force another error. Kvitova is still trying to find her range out there.
First set: Sofia Kenin 1-1* Petra Kvitova
Kenin also registers a quick hold herself, finding 6/6 first serves in the opening game and a couple of free points behind it. She ended with a sweet backhand down the line that clipped the back of the line, forcing an error front he Czech. Both players seem to be easing into the match on return and assessing the conditions.
I asked @iga_swiatek who her idols were growing up on @espn. She said she didn’t really model her game after anyone or have an idol. She said “ I learned tennis playing on my play station” !! I swear to god! Her words! 😂 @Sony are u listening! (we know she loves @RafaelNadal )
— Rennae Stubbs (@rennaestubbs) October 8, 2020
First set: Sofia Kenin *0-1 Petra Kvitova
Kvitova opens with ample first serves and a quick love hold. She landed a couple of unreturned serves and also elicited two backhand errors from Kenin with deep forehands. A perfect start for her.
Head to head:
Petra Kvitova won their two previous encounters, notably beating Kenin in three sets on the fast clay conditions of Madrid last year. However, Kenin is a different player in 2020.
Kvitova and Kenin are now out onto the court and warming up. Kvitova will serve first.
As we turn our attention to the second semi-final, we move from two first time finalists to two slam champions as both Petra Kvitova and Sofia Kenin battle for their first Roland Garros final.
For Kvitova, this will already go down as an unforgettable tournament. Three years ago, after being the victim of a knife attack and attempted murder in which her fingers were nearly sliced from her playing hand, Kvitova returned on Philippe Chatrier well ahead of schedule and won her first match after initially being told that she was unlikely to return to the sport. Now she is back in the semi-final on her worst surface.
Kvitova hasn’t dropped a set and her run is a testament to how she has evolved as a player over the past couple of years. She remains one of the biggest, cleanest hitters in the world with a huge serve and forehand, with her current coach Jiri Vanek, she has become a far more consistent player. She is a better athlete, she has incorporated her great hands and variety more seamlessly into her game, she is more patient and willing to adapt. Handed a decent draw with no seeded opponents until the semi-final, those qualities have all come in handy as she swept into her second Roland Garros semi-final without dropping a set.
Across the net, Kenin’s run to the Australian Open title was a surprise to all but this first Roland Garros semi-final is just a continuation of her rise. Like Kvitova, she also hasn’t faced a seed, but she has been impressive in her own way. Kenin has been pushed to a third set in four of her five matches so far, but each time she has responded to setbacks by elevating her level under pressure and convincingly taking the match. In her previous two rounds against Danielle Collins and Fiona Ferro, two challenging opponents, she completely dominated the final sets 6-0 and 6-1.
Kenin is still quite underrated because nothing she does is spectacular, but she is a great athlete and an intelligent player with an excellent backhand and precision on both groundstrokes. At her best, she is so good at finding the balance between taking the ball early and controlling the points but also mixing up her shots and keeping opponents unsure of what ball is coming next. If she falls today, she will make sure that Kvitova has to play a great match to beat her.
An overjoyed Iga Swiatek:
“I’m kind of surprised, really, because I would have never thought before the tournament that I would play so good here. But on the other hand, I always knew that if I’m gonna be in the final of a Grand Slam, it’s gonna be the French Open. So I’m really happy, it’s like a dream come true.”
“I wanted to play this match as if it would be first round. I didn’t want to think this was a semi-final because it would stress me... I don’t know, I feel really lucky that I’m feeling good and nothing hurts me. I hope I’m gonna play a great match tomorrow, doubles with my partner, and singles in two days.”
Swiatek is the first Polish player to ever reach the Roland Garros final. Incredibly, she is also in the doubles semi-final.
These are all the sets Iga Swiatek has played so far at Roland Garros to reach her first slam final at 19 years old: 6-1 6-2 6-1 6-4 6-3 6-2 6-1 6-2 6-3 6-1 6-2 6-1
She has conceded 23 games in total and only one player, Hsieh Su-wei, has won 4 games against her in a set. The most games she has lost in a match is 5. Incredible.
Iga Swiatek’s final stat line:
- 53% first serves in
- 70% first serves won
- 67% second serves won
- 59% return points won
- 23 winners
- 20 unforced errors
19 year-old Iga Swiatek dismantles Nadia Podoroska 6-2 6-1 to reach first slam final
Six matches, six dominant performances from Swiatek and she marches into her first slam final without dropping a set. She finished with two searing backhand winners followed by an easy service winner. This is everything she has worked for in her career and it is supposed to be difficult. It looks so easy.
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Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 *5-1 Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek will serve for her first ever slam final! That loss of serve could have blunted Swiatek’s momentum and brought Podoroska back into the match, but instead she immediately continued to put immense pressure on Podoroska, pulling her around the court from on top of the baseline. At 15-30, Swiatek crafted an incredible acute angled backhand winner and then her intensity elicited another forced forehand error from Podoroska. She is one game away.
Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 4-1* Nadia Podoroska
Podoroska finally has her first break of the match and her first game of the set, secured on her fourth break point of a long deuce game.
For perhaps the first time today, Swiatek threw in two successive unforced errors which pushed her from 30-15 to 30-40. She saved the break point with a quick serve-forehand 1-2 punch, but Podoroska sensed the opportunity and crushed an excellent combination of forehands to bring up a second break point.
On the second break point, a gust of wind sent Swiatek’s serve off course and Podoroska was unable to retrieve it. On the third, Podoroska sent a forehand long after an intense exchange as Swiatek refused to miss. Finally, Swiatek went for too much on a forehand which flew long to hand Podoroska her first hold. Despite being pummeled for so much of today, Podoroska is still fighting hard.
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Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 *4-0 Nadia Podoroska
After landing countless blows from on top of the baseline today, at 15-30 Swiatek demonstrated the other dimensions of her game by tracking down a big forehand from Podoroska, then retrieving a decent drop shot, then having the wherewithal to dink a lovely lob over Podoroska’s head from that drop shot. Feeling the pressure and intensity across the net, Podoroska over-hit a forehand long to relinquish the second break to 15. This is becoming a bit of a beatdown.
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Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 3-0* Nadia Podoroska
After serving at 40% in the first set, Swiatek’s first serve is only now starting to properly click into gear. A scary thought for Podoroska. Swiatek breezes through another hold with some great serve-forehand 1-2 punches. She has now won 15 of the last 16 points on serve.
Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 2-0* Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek opens the second set with another quick break. Podoroska quickly moved to a 30-0 lead and looked to have a decent shot at a quick hold to start the set, only for Swiatek to come rolling back again. At 30-30, the Pole crushed a beautiful inside out backhand return winner to bring up break point. Podoroska responded extremely well, crushing a series of backhands crosscourt before sending an arrow-straight backhand down the line to end the point.
But Swiatek just keeps on coming back and her intensity is so high. At deuce, Swiatek loaded balls at the Podotoska backhand, challenging it to produce another miraculous winner. It could not. Instead, Podoroska dumped a backhand into the net. At break point, Swiatek buried a forehand down-the-line winner to immediately break.
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Second set: Iga Swiatek 6-2 1-0* Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek breezes through a quick service game to open the second set, holding to 15 with another big serve and forehand combo. She has now won 11 of the last 12 points on serve. Her level is high and Podoroska will continue to go after shots as she attempts to match it.
Iga Swiatek’s stat line so far:
- 40% first serves in
- 73% points won on first serve
- 73% points won on second serve
- 6/7 net points won
- 2/5 break points won
- 50% receiving points won
- 10 winners
- 12 unforced errors
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Iga Swiatek takes the first set 6-2 against Nadia Podoroska
Simply a great set of tennis from the 19 year old, who is managing the pressure beautifully so far.
After another dominant return game, Swiatek reached 15-40 and double set point. On the first set point, the Pole tried to close things off with a drop shot, but there was far too much air beneath it and Podoroska easily swept it up with a forehand winner. Swiatek shanked a forehand on the second set point.
But Swiatek is so relentless and she bounced back immediately, pummelling the Podoroska backhand in successive points to elicit two forced errors and take the set.
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First set: Iga Swiatek 5-2* Nadia Podoroska
The wind is swirling and there were quite a few gusts in this game that look absolutely horrible to play in, but there were no problems for Swiatek. She shrugged off the conditions by securing her first hold to love with more big hitting, sealed with another big serve and forehand combo.
First set: Iga Swiatek *4-2 Nadia Podoroska
A much easier hold from Podoroska, who again found joy by sweeping to the net after a big forehand and forcing Swiatek to make a passing shot, which she could not do. After a missed forehand from Swiatek at 30-15, Podoroska landed a big first serve, slotting away an inside-in forehand winner behind it.
This is the lowest-ranked slam semi-final in the open era and there is so much opportunity here, yet neither player looks nervous. Good work.
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First set: Iga Swiatek 4-1* Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek saves a break point to retain her lead. A good effort from Podoroska, who used the momentum from her hold to mount an assault on return by attacking her forehand and moving forward behind it, At 30-30, all of that pressure from Podoroska showed as Swiatek threw in a poor dropshot to bring up break point.
However, from break point at 30-40 Podoroska just overhit a couple of forehands as she tried to take control of the rally first. Although she had the right intentions, the execution just wasn’t there. Gifted a game point, Swiatek did not waste it, cracking a lovely angled cross-court forehand to hold.
First set: Iga Swiatek *3-1 Nadia Podoroska
Podoroska gets on the board, and it took some effort. From 30-0, Swiatek pushed her way back to 30-30 with more huge ball striking. Podoroska responded at 30-30 with a sweet serve and forehand 1-2 punch before she was unable to capitalise, sending a smart drop shot attempt into the net.
At deuce, the Argentine demonstrated her excellent defence, chasing down a drop shot before a lob from Swiatek flew well long. On her second game point, Podoroska found a big unreturned serve to close it off.
First set: Iga Swiatek 3-0* Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek consolidates the break with few problems, holding to 15. This has been such a dominant start from 0-30 down in the opening. She served really well in this game, constantly allowing herself to find a big forehand right behind it. Podoroska hasn’t done too much wrong, but there is a big gulf in the pair’s weight of shot so far.
First set: Iga Swiatek *2-0 Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek takes the first break. After that tight opening game, Swiatek has already found her stride and she is hitting so big from on top of the baseline, controlling the points. That was a brutal return game with two winners and two violent point-ending second serve returns.
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First set: Iga Swiatek 1-0* Nadia Podoroska
Swiatek fell down 0-30 following an excellent 16 shot rally in which Podoroska responded to a creative backhand angle by Swiatek with a drop shot, eventually finishing with a sweet volley. Those first two points yielded a great response from the Pol, who crunched successive forehand winners.
At 40-30, Swiatek sent a forehand long, but Podoroska struck successive forehand return errors to hand the Pole her first hold. Both players have started extremely aggressively but conditions aren’t great. The wind is swirling.
Podoroska and Swiatek have entered Court Philippe Chatrier and are warming up. As usual, Swiatek has entered the court wearing some chunky headphones. This is her take on pre-match music:
“I often listen to music. Sometimes I’m listening to calm music when I need to calm down, like the adrenaline level is too high. Right now I was being kind of sleepy before match. Actually I wish I could say something new to you, but I was still listening to Guns N’ Roses Welcome to the Jungle because I want to keep my routines. Actually I wanted to change it because right now it’s kind of boring to listen every day to the same song. Yeah, I stayed with Guns N’ Roses because I wanted to win, yeah. That’s it.”
Another grand slam singles final for Alfie Hewett. He takes out defending champion Gustavo Fernandez in two very tight sets. Will play Joachim Gerard in the final. Andy Lapthorne also into the final in the quads.
— Eleanor Crooks (@EleanorcrooksPA) October 8, 2020
One interesting aspect of Iga Swiatek’s journey is that while so many of her peers received wildcards and opportunities as a junior, she does not come from a tennis country. She has received zero WTA wildcards in her career and she had to build her career with little help. She talked about this after her quarter-final:
Yeah, I mean, it was pretty annoying at the beginning. I just had to accept if you’re from, I don’t know, eastern or central Europe it may be kind of harder to get wild cards because we don’t have any big tournament in Poland and federation can’t switch wild cards.
As soon as I accepted that and as soon as I realized it’s going to be even better if I’m going to earned it on my own, I was okay with that. I just kept working. I knew that if I’m going to play well, it wouldn’t matter if I’m going to play quallies and play three more matches because you just have to, I don’t know, get the ranking points. If you’re top 50 you’re going to get to main draw to every tournament anyway.
Yeah, I just kept working hard. At the beginning it was pretty annoying, but later I didn’t care.
After her shock win over Elina Svitolina, Nadia Podoroska talked about the toughest moment of her career in 2017-2018:
Q. In Spanish a few days ago you said there was a period in your career when you weren’t sure if you were going to continue playing tennis. When was that? When has been the toughest part of your career?
NADIA PODOROSKA: Yeah, the toughest part for me was like two or three years ago. I had too many injuries. I’m drop my ranking. I been like eight months out of the tour. Then I didn’t have money to start playing tournaments. It was a very tough moment for me because I also change all my team. I’ve been working with my old coach for 10 years, then we broke our relationship. I was a little bit, like, I didn’t know what to do.
Both Iga Swiatek and Nadia Podoroska will be looking to take control in different ways. The most impressive thing about Swiatek’s game is just how complete her skill set already is. She has a solid and versatile serve, the angles and power she creates with her heavy topspin forehand can be devastating even though her backhand is more reliable. She also has great hands, which she showed against Halep with some sweet drop shots and a couple of lovely volleys, and she is a really good athlete. She can win points in so many different ways.
As she has developed, she has had to make sense of those skills and how to use them. In Paris, all of those facets of her game have finally come together at the same time and she has bulldozed opponents with her aggression and creativity.
Although Swiatek possesses bigger weapons, Podoroska demonstrated against Elina Svitolina how damaging her game can be against the best. She will constantly be looking for forehands, a shot that can both open the court with angles and end points for her. She will also look to disrupt Swiatek with ample drop shots.
Updated
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to our coverage on day 12 of Roland Garros, which will see the women take centre stage with a pair of very interesting semi-finals. First up is the big surprise of the tournament as unseeded Iga Swiatek of Poland and qualifier Nadia Podoroska of Argentina will both contest their first career semifinal with so much opportunity on the line. Two slam champions will follow, with two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova taking on this year’s Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin,
The first semi-final will mark the first time since Justine Henin beat Zheng Jie in the 2010 Australian Open that a semi-final has been played between two unseeded players. Of course, Henin was an all-time great in the midst of a comeback and Zheng was a former top 20 player. Before that encounter, this last happened in 1983 when there were only 16 seeds. In other words, it doesn’t happen.
Although both the manner and swiftness of Swiatek’s rise in Paris this year has been a surprise, this was only a matter of time for the 19 year-old. Swiatek is a former junior number one, the 2018 Wimbledon girls singles champion and French Open doubles champion. She transitioned to the WTA tour with ease, breaking into the top 50 shortly after her fourth round run at Roland Garros last year. Although she faltered under the pressure there and lost 6-1 6-0 to Simona Halep in 45 minutes, she has consistently shown her potential against top players over the past year.
However, a talented young player would normally have a few more solid runs at big events before piecing together a run like this. Everything has come together for Swiatek in Paris: she has lost only 20 games so far, battering everyone in her path including the top seed and overwhelming tournament favourite Simona Halep, who she demolished 6-1 6-2 in the fourth round. Perhaps even more impressive was how she backed up that win in her quarter-final against qualifier Martina Trevisan, which she was also favourite to win. After a tight start, Swiatek reeled off 11 of the last 12 games from 1-3 down to take the win 6-3 6-1.
She will also be the clear favourite against Podoroska, but it remains to be seen how she will handle the nerves of this unfamiliar moment. Podoroska showed how dangerous she can be in the semi-final when she dismantled 3rd seed Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-4. Although only 23 years-old herself, Podoroska’s route to this semi-final could not have been more different. The Argentine has compiled an incredible 43-6 win-loss record this year, but primarily at lower level tournaments.
After winning two tournaments with a total of $25k prize money at the beginning of the year, Podoroska won a $60k event just a week before she started her Paris run. No matter where it happens, winning brings confidence and she has carried it through 3 wins in qualifying and 5 more in the main-draw. She had never faced a top 20 player before she stepped on court with Elina Svitolina. It didn’t matter.
