The women opened the ball for the tenth day of the French Open, Tuesday, June 8 on the Philippe-Chatrier court. In a duel which will have opposed two partners of doubles, Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova has disposed of the Kazakhe Elena Rybakina. Classified 32e World player, the Russian came out victorious from a fierce fight in three sets (6-7, 6-2, 9-7). She will find Tamara Zidansek in the semifinals. Slovenian, 85e world, eliminated the Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert, also in three sets (7-5, 4-6, 8-6).
In men, the German Alexander Zverev (6e world) qualified for his first semi-final at Roland Garros on Tuesday, clearly dominating the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (46e) 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. He will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5e world, who emerged victorious from the first big shock of the tournament and qualified for his second consecutive semi-final at Roland-Garros by eliminating Daniil Medvedev (2e) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in 2h19.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova gets over Elena Rybakina
Qualified for the quarter-finals on Wednesday, Kazakhe Elena Rybakina and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova met on Tuesday for a place in the singles semi-finals. 21-year-old Rybakina won the first set after a one-sided tie-break – rewarding her slight dominance.
But her opponent for one day will have raised his level of play in the second set and ended up breaking twice a Rybakina upset by the aggressive returns of the Russian, imperial on her backhand. Returning to one round everywhere, Pavlyuchenkova therefore tried to continue her momentum in the last set, still driven by excellent returns.
But Rybakina managed to regain her tennis, offering the spectators of the Philippe-Chatrier court a round as tight as the first, the two players failing to confirm their successive breaks. But this is Rybakina, current 22e of the WTA rankings, who ended up giving up a third service game.
After 2 h 33 of play, Pavlyuchenkova finally triumphed over her partner, 9-7 in the last set. At 29, the Russian will play the first Grand Slam semi-final of her career, she who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2011. She will face another novice at this level of competition, the Slovenian Tamara Zidansek, surprise guest of this last square.
Tamara Zidansek eliminates Paula Badosa
Earlier today, Tamara Zidansek, 85e world, eliminated the Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert in three sets (7-5, 4-6, 8-6). The Slovenian player will play her first Grand Slam semi-final.
As she did in the first round, in her winning match against Canadian Bianca Andreescu (7e world) after 3:20, Tamara Zidansek started the match in diesel mode. Led 3-0 at the start of the match, the former snowboarder kept her cool to pick up at 3-3.
The two players in turn conceded their throw-in until a long backhand from Paula Badosa, a validated time, then judged foul, which allowed the Slovenian to take the advantage on her service, before concluding damping (6-5). Annoyed, the Spaniard made two new unforced errors and yielded the first set.
Paula Badosa took advantage of a drop in her opponent’s power to return to a round everywhere. Between the two neophytes at this stage of the competition, the decisive set was more balanced (3-3, then 4-4 and 5-5). The Spaniard was the first to show signs of nervousness. More lucid, the Slovenian won the third round (8-6).
Alexander Zverev in the semi-final at Roland Garros for the first time in his career
Alexander Zverev (6e world) qualified for his first semi-final at Roland Garros on Tuesday, clearly dominating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (46e) 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. The 24-year-old German finalist in the last US Open will try to qualify for the final in Paris against the winner of the other bottom quarter of the table, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (no 5 worldwide).
“Obviously it’s very nice to be in the semi-final, but that’s not enough for me! “, launched Zverev who has already played two semifinals in Major, both in 2020: at the US Open, where he won against Pablo Carreño Busta before losing in the final to Dominic Thiem, and at the Open from Australia, where he was beaten by the same Thiem. “I’m playing pretty well, I hope I can continue to play as well and maybe even better in the semi-finals”, he insisted Tuesday.
After two quarters on Parisian clay (2018 and 2019), the winner of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, in May, therefore managed to climb into the last four.
Stefanos Tsitsipas wins in Medvedev clash
Stefanos Tsitsipas emerged victorious from the tournament’s first big shock on Tuesday and qualified for his second straight semi-final at Roland Garros by eliminating Daniil Medvedev (2e) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in 2 h 19.
“I was playing against one of the best players on the tour, I had to maintain the intensity and raise my level of play throughout the game. I didn’t give him a lot of space, it’s one of my best performances this week, I’m very happy. Playing on clay in Paris brings back good memories to me, I hope to go even further ”, welcomed Tsitsipas.
“It was a very close game, there weren’t many breaks, we both served well. The difference, I would say it was the last game: being led 0-40 and coming back, staying mentally present, not having given up in this game, having fought when I could very well have already had the lead at the tie-break “, he assured. He also did not fall into the trap of the Russian who served with a spoon on the match point.
This will be the fourth semifinal in major for Tsitsipas, who lost the first three, at the Australian Open in 2019 (beaten by Rafael Nadal) and 2021 (beaten by Medvedev) as well as that of Roland Garros 2020 ( beaten by Novak Djokovic).