IT was a history-making day in Paris as two first-time Grand Slam semi-finalists reached the last four at Roland Garros. It was not just the fact they had reached their maiden semi-finals, but in doing so, Nadia Podoroska and Iga Swiatek both achieved rare feats.

Podoroska became the first ever qualifier through to the semi-finals at the French Open – and the first in any Grand Slam for 21 years – stunning third seed and remaining tournament favourite, Elina Svitolina in straight sets. The Argentinian 131st ranked clay courter is just two wins away from even greater history, but Svitolina was the biggest scalp of her career thus far.

Making the run all the more remarkable, prior to the event Podoroska had never even won a Grand Slam main draw match nor beaten a Top 50 player. In fact, she had not even won back-to-back matches on the WTA Tour. Now she has strung together five straight main draw wins, and did it in style with a remarkable 6-2 6-4 victory.

“It’s difficult for me to speak after the match, but thanks everyone for your support. I’m very, very happy!” Podoroska explained post-match. “I try to play every kind of shot. “We did a good job with my coaches during quarantine. “I’ve been training a lot with all of my team and I think that’s why I’m here today.”

Svitolina said she had a disappointing match, but credited her opponent with an outstanding performance.

“She played a really great match. I wasn’t 100 per cent mentally on it today and that was really disappointing,” she said.

“I think it was really tough for me to find focus. “I didn’t perform as I wish I could and in the end I completely dropped my level. “I gave her the opportunity to play really good tennis.”

Swiatek became only the second Polish woman in history – and first of the Open era – to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals. Only 1939 runner-up Jadwiga Jedrzejowska has reached further than the 19-year-old who continued her giant-killing run to the final.

In Paris alone she has taken down 2019 Roland Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova, world number two and top seed Simona Halep and former top five player Eugenie Bouchard. In the quarter finals, she knocked over unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan who herself had had a giant-killing spree – defeating fifth seed Kiki Bertens, 20th seed Maria Sakkari and young gun Coco Gauff – on her way to the final eight.

Swiatek was clearly the better player on the day, running out a 6-3 6-1 winner to advance to the semi-final to take on Podoroska for a spot in the Roland Garros final. The match lasted an hour and 18 minutes before the Polish teenager could advance, winning 62 per cent of her first serve points to her opponents’ 47 per cent. She also broke six times to two, capitalising on her chances.

Meanwhile in the earliest match of the day, Danielle Collins won her fourth round match over 30th seed Ons Jabeur to book a spot in the quarter finals against Sofia Kenin. The match was due to be played the night before, but was washed out and they only had the coin toss, with Collins having to play first-up today. The world number 57 came out on top with a tight 6-4 4-6 6-4 win in one hour and 58 minutes.

Despite leading 6-4 3-0 in the match, Collins could not capitalise as Jabeur hit back to rally and win the second set and force it into a decider. Collins managed to get a crucial break in the final set to take out the win.

“I felt like I was in the driver’s seat up until, 6-4, 3-0,” Collins said post-match. “I think she’s a really tricky player and she has so many tools under her belt that she’s able to use in really clutch moments.

“I think it was maybe when I was up 3-0 in the second set and there were a couple of really strong groundstrokes that I had hit. She was able to hit a dropshot off of those.

“You don’t usually see too many players being able to handle the pace that well and then being able to have the soft touch with their hands to hit an effective dropshot. So I found that to be very challenging, because it just wasn’t something I was always expecting.”

Collins will have to take on Kenin tomorrow for a spot in the semi-finals, whilst seventh seed Petra Kvitova locks horns with unseeded German Laura Siegemund.