On a day troubled by torrential rain, Jelena Ostapenko and Timea Bacsinszky advanced to the semifinals of the French Open, beating their higher ranked opponents to set up a clash of two birthday girls on June 8th.
Latvia’s Ostapenko, unseeded this fortnight, shocked world No.12 Caroline Wozniacki 4-6 6-2 6-2 on the Suzanne Lenglen Court, as despite a horrible start, the underdog ranked 47th won 16 of the last 21 games and made her first Grand Slam semifinal.
On the Philippe Chatrier Court, the 30th-seeded Bacsinszky was underprivileged to play seed No.13 Kristina Mladenovic on her home soil, on top of facing a sand storm, a hurricane and almost snow in a match interrupted by blustery winds, clay swirling and two rain delays. France’s Mladenovic lacked the power and intensity that handed her a win over defending champion Garbine Muguruza in the previous round and Switzerland’s Bacsinszky reached the Roland Garros semis with a 6-4 6-4 victory for the second time in her career.
The other semifinal pair will be determined on Wednesday, in the Caroline Garcia vs. Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina vs. Simona Halep quarterfinals.
It will be a fun day to watch which of the two will celebrate their birthday with a win. Irregardless of the result, I would like to congratulate both for the great run they had this year. It’ll be a good chance for Timea to advance to her first slam final because last time Serena stopped her on the same stage. It will also be fun to watch Jelena to cement her status as Top Teenage Tennis Queen. She’s really playing solid the last few weeks. I believe she’ll be a future Top 5 star, even a World No.1 in a not so distant future. RG17 really is interesting this year despite the lack of star power. We discovered new talents even new underdogs.