We are now down to four players each in women’s singles and men’s singles at the 2020 French Open in Roland Garros. On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek of Poland is facing Nadia Podoroska of Argentina, while Sofia Kenin of the United States is facing Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal of Spain is facing Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and Novak Djokovic of Serbia is facing Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
The women’s semifinals are going on Thursday. The men’s semifinals are on Friday.
Kenin will be going for her second grand slam title of the season. She previously won the Australian Open in January where she beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the final, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. When Kenin beat Diane Collins of the United States in the quarterfinals of the French Open, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 on Wednesday, it was the first all-American women’s quarterfinal matchup on clay since 2004 when Jennifer Capriati beat Serena Williams 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
There isn also great excitement about the match on Thursday between Swiatek and Podoroska. That is because both players are unseeded and Podoroska is even ranked outside the top 100 at 131st. What makes Podoroska’s road to the semifinals even more improbable is the fact she was a qualifier. In fact, Podoroska is the first female tennis player ever to reach the semi-finals of the French Open in the history of the tournament.
On the men’s side, we are setting up for a Rafael Nadal-Novak Djokovic final. However both players got off to a slow start before settling in for their quarterfinal matches. Nadal was forced to a tiebreaker in his match against Jannik Sinner of Italy, before winning 7-6, 6-4, 6-1. While Djokovic actually lost the first set to Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, in winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Nadal should have the clear edge against Schwartzman in the semis when you realize that Schwartzman needed over five hours to beat Thiem. In beating Thiem 7-6, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, Schwartzman only had one ace.
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