The women opened the ball for the tenth day of the French Open, Tuesday, June 8 on the Philippe-Chatrier court. Six of the eight players still in contention discover the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament.
Against all odds, it was the lowest ranked quarter-finalist who won the first ticket to the semi-finals. Tamara Zidansek, 85e world, eliminated the Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert in three sets (7-5, 4-6, 8-6). The Slovenian is the first player from her country to qualify for a Grand Slam semi-final.
As she did in the first round, in her winning match against Canadian Bianca Andreescu (7e World) after 3:20, Tamara Zidansek started the match in diesel mode. Led 3-0 at the start of the match, the former snowboarder kept her cool to pick up at 3-3.
The two players alternately conceded their throw-in until a long backhand from Paula Badosa, a time validated, then judged foul, which allowed the Slovenian to take the advantage on her service, before concluding damping (6-5). Annoyed, the Spaniard made two new unforced errors (15 in total in the first set, five more than her opponent) and gave up the first set in just under an hour of play.
In the second set, Paula Badosa took advantage of a slowing down of the Slovenian to return to a round everywhere. Between the two neophytes at this stage, the decisive set was more balanced (3-3, then 4-4 and 5-5), the nerves of the two players being put to the test. The Spaniard was the first to show signs of nervousness. Led 6-5, she sent her racket waltz. More lucid, the Slovenian won the third round (8-6). In the next round, she will meet the winner of the other poster of the day, which pits doubles partners Ukrainian Elena Rybakina against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
