(Reuters) – A look at the key facts and records of Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska before their French Open semi-final on Thursday (prefix number denotes seeding):
IGA SWIATEK
Age: 19
WTA ranking: 54 (Highest ranking: 48)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career WTA titles: 0
2019 French Open performance: Fourth round
Best French Open performance: Semi-finals (2020)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: 15-Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-2
Second round: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) 6-1 6-4
Third round: Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3 6-2
Fourth round: 1-Simona Halep (Romania) 6-1 6-2
Quarter-finals: Martina Trevisan (Italy) 6-3 6-1
The Polish teenager became the first woman from her country to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros since 1939, when she beat Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan in the last-eight.
Swiatek, who has never won a WTA title, is being touted as one of the favourites for the French Open crown after she eased past top seed Simona Halep in the fourth round.
NADIA PODOROSKA
Age: 23
WTA ranking: 131 (Highest ranking: 130)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career WTA titles: 0
2019 French Open performance: Did not play
Best French Open performance: Semi-finals (2020)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: Greet Minnen (Belgium) 6-2 6-1
Second round: 23-Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) 6-3 1-6 6-2
Third round: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 6-3 6-2
Fourth round: Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) 2-6 6-2 6-3
Quarter-finals: 3-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-2 6-4
The Argentine beat third seed Elina Svitolina to become the first woman qualifier to make the Roland Garros semis. Another win will make her the first female qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final since tennis turned professional in 1968.
Podoroska, who is currently on a 13-match winning streak, won the Saint Malo Open – an ITF World Tour tournament – to reach a career-high world ranking of 130 last month after dropping to 508 two years ago.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: First meeting
(Compiled by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
