PARIS (AP) - After becoming the first qualifier to reach the women's semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open era, Nadia Podoroska threw her racket in the air, tilted her head back and pumped both fists.
Podoroska had just knocked out Elena Svitolina, the French Open's third seed who, on Tuesday, was stopped from reaching a third semifinal in her past four Grand Slam tournaments.
The Argentine, who is ranked 131st and never had won a main draw Grand Slam match before last week, could hardly believe she won 6-2, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Asked afterward whether she is pinching herself to make sure it's not a dream, Podoroska replied: "No. I don't want to wake up."
Podoroska is only the third female qualifier to get to the semifinals at any major tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968, and the first since Alexandra Stevenson at Wimbledon in 1999.
And to think: Podoroska, who is from the same city in Argentina as soccer superstar Lionel Messi, said she considered quitting tennis altogether a couple of years ago after “too many injuries,” including to her right wrist.
She was off the tour for eight months; her ranking dropped; she didn't have enough money to travel to tournaments; she split with a coach she'd been working with for a decade.
"I didn't know what to do," Podoroska said.
She stuck with it, though, and now has a new team around her, based in Spain. And, by far, the best results of her career.
Svitolina, though, blamed herself for this outcome.
"Lots of things were not going my way," Svitolina said. "I was not 100% mentally on it today, and that was really disappointing."
Serving at 5-4 down, Svitolina saved two match points, the second with an audacious slice at the net to end a 27-shot rally.
But on the third match point, Podoroska hit a crisp forehand winner and then chucked her racket toward the blue sky.
In the semifinals, she could face another qualifier in Martina Trevisan of Italy, who also had not won a main draw Grand Slam match before this tournament. Trevisan was scheduled to face unseeded 19-year-old Iga Swiatek later Tuesday.
