PARIS (Reuters) – Italian Martina Trevisan became the first qualifier in eight years to reach the quarter-finals of the women’s draw at the French Open by beating Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4 on Sunday.
The world number 159 played aggressively throughout to set up a meeting with Polish teenager Iga Swiatek, who knocked out top seed Simona Halep.
“I came here two weeks ago to play the qualifiers and today I’m here in the quarter finals. I can’t believe it,” said Trevisan, who will break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings on Monday.
“I’m really honoured to play on this court with Bertens; she’s an incredible player.”
After a mastering the opening set, Trevisan went 3-0 up in the second before Bertens stepped up a gear to break back.
Trevisan, however, held her nerve and wrapped up victory with an exquisite lob on her third match point on Bertens’s serve.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Chopra and David Goodman)
