Zidansek through to Roland-Garros semi-final after Badosa epic
The Slovenia beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 to reach her first-ever Slam final four
Tamara Zidansek against Paula Badosa (Panoramic)
- What happened: Tamara Zidansek reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final in an epic three-setter.
- You will also learn: How Paula Badosa has put together some incredible statistics on clay this year.
- Why you should read this: Zidansek is enjoying a run in Paris that is writing her name into her country’s record books.
Tamara Zidansek continued her historic run at Roland-Garros as she beat Paula Badosa 7-5, 4-6, 8-6.
The Slovenian was already the first from her country to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.
“I’m really, really happy,” she said in her on-court interview, thanking her supporters and her backroom team.
“I knew before the match it was going to be a tough battle…In the third set I managed to get my groove. I started feeling better and better, and I was fighting really well.”
Zidansek recovered from a double-break down to take the first set, and looked set to take the second and wrap it up in straight sets.
But Badosa won four games in a row to force the decider.
And it was a fascinating third set, in which Zidansek saved two break points to finally go 7-6 up.
The Spaniard had perhaps gone into the match as a slight favourite, having won more matches on clay this year (17) than any other woman on tour, reaching the final in Belgrade and Madrid – and also having beaten Zidansek on clay in juniors back in 2014.
Prior to this fortnight, Zidansek had never been beyond the second round at a Slam.
She has now defeated sixth seed Bianca Andreescu, Madison Brengle, Katerina Siniakova, Sorana Cirstea, and now Badosa – and will next play either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals.
