BEVERLY HILLS, October 6, (THEWILL) – There was history in the making on Tuesday at the French Open. The women’s game, which had produced upset upon upset worked another one when Nadia Podoroska served a shock defeat to third seed Elina Svitolina in their quarter-final clash.
The 23-year-old Argentine was playing in the French Open for the first time and has now become the first time qualifier to reach the women’s singles semi-finals on record. In a tournament of upsets, Podoroska pulled off the biggest of them all as she stunned the Ukrainian World No. 5 in straight sets 6-2 6-4.
In the victories of her eight matches and counting so far, her progress has been nothing short of remarkable because she had never previously won a grand slam match and had never even claimed back-to-back wins on the WTA Tour before. In fact, the World No. 131 had never played a Top-20 player before, to say nothing of beating one.
Yet, here she was looking right at home on her first appearance on Court Philippe Chartrier and racing through the first set of the tie with 17 winners to the consternation of an unsettled Svitolina who could only manage two.
When Svitolina finally held serve at the start of the second and then forged a break ahead, it appeared she had found some steel to pursue the game in her favour. But Podoroska was having none of it and immediately wiped that out with a stunning drop shot.
Break after break followed until the Argentine held for 5-4 and then converted a third match point with a forehand winner. It was fairy tale ending when she hurled her racket in the air in jubilation at her win.
THEWILL could tell she was as amazed as everyone watching as was obvious in her post-match interview. She said, “It’s a little bit difficult for me to speak. Thank you everybody for your support, I’m very happy.”
