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PARIS: Petra Kvitova returned to the French Open semi-finals for the first time in eight years on Wednesday after defeating Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-3, describing Roland Garros as her lucky place.
Czech seventh seed Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, will now face Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin who knocked out fellow American Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 for a place in Saturday’s final.
The 30-year-old Kvitova was beaten by eventual champion Maria Sharapova when she made the same stage in 2012. It was Paris where Kvitova made her comeback in 2017 after spending six months recovering from a terrifying knife attack at her home in December 2016.
The frenzied assault required a four-hour operation and left her with damaged ligaments in her playing hand. Doctors warned her that her career may be finished.
On Wednesday, Kvitova fired 22 winners and six aces past 32-year-old Siegemund, the world number 66 who was playing in the quarter-finals of a Slam for the first time.
One break of serve in the opener was enough for Kvitova while five more breaks followed in the second set.
Kvitova claimed victory when Siegemund served up a third double fault of the tie.
Siegemund leaves behind a tournament to remember having been accused of hitting the ball on a double bounce in her first round win over Kristina Mladenovic. She then munched on a plate of food courtside during her fourth round victory against Paula Badosa.
On Wednesday, she signed off with a time violation for taking too long between points.
Fourth seed Kenin moved two wins from a second Grand Slam title of 2020 when she defeated Collins on the back of 38 winners, out-hitting her 26-year-old rival who had arrived in the last eight having unleashed a tournament total of 140.
Collins required a medical timeout off-court on an abdominal injury at 4-0 down in the decider, but Kenin’s resolve never wavered.
Ex-college tennis champion Collins endured a roller-coaster of an afternoon with one US network claiming she ordered her boyfriend, Aussie Rules player Tom Couch to move to another seat while winning points were accompanied by high-pitched screams of “come on”.
NADAL WINS, THIEM STUNNED
Rafael Nadal reached his 13th Roland Garros semi-final in the early hours of Wednesday with a straight sets win over Italian teenager Jannik Sinner but claimed it was dangerous to finish at 01:30 in the morning when the temperature had plummeted to 12 degrees (53F).
Nadal, the 12-time champion, defeated 19-year-old Sinner 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-1 to clinch a 98th victory in his 100th match at the French Open.
He will next face Diego Schwartzman, the diminutive Argentine who who knocked out third seeded US Open winner Dominic Thiem, the runner-up in Paris to Nadal in the last two years, for a place in Sunday’s championship match.
However, Nadal, more accustomed to the bright sunshine of Mallorca than the autumn chill of a French Open pushed back four months due to the coronavirus pandemic, was unhappy with organisers who scheduled five matches on the main Court Philippe Chatrier.
“I know footballers play under these conditions, but they are all the time moving,” said Nadal after the latest ever finishing match at the tournament. “We stop, we come back, we stop on the changeovers. I think this is a little bit dangerous for the body with these very heavy conditions.”
Nadal and Sinner only got on court at 10:30pm after Schwartzman and Thiem had taken five hours to decide their quarter-final. They also had to wait for another women’s last-eight tie to be completed after two others had kicked off the programme.
The sparse and shivering crowd that greeted them wore thick coats, scarves and hats.
Nadal will be playing in a 34th semi-final at the majors. He takes a 9-1 lead over Schwartzman into that match although the Argentine won their most recent clash in Rome on the eve of Roland Garros.
World No.75 Sinner, bidding to become the first man to make the semi-finals on debut since Nadal in 2005, was left to rue missed chances.
He led with breaks in both of the first two sets, even finding himself just two points away from taking the opener.
The 28-year-old Schwartzman triumphed 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 against Thiem. It was one marathon too many for Thiem, who had needed five sets and three and a half hours to down world No. 239 Hugo Gaston in the fourth round.
The 5ft 7in (1.70m) Schwartzman’s success came on the same day that compatriot Nadia Podoroska, the world No. 131, reached the last-four of the women’s singles.
However, despite crunching 65 winners to his opponent’s 47, he committed 81 unforced errors in a match which featured 19 breaks of serve and at five hours and eight minutes was the second longest of the tournament.
Results on Wednesday (prefix number denotes seeding):
Women’s singles:
Quarter-finals: 4-Sofia Kenin (US) bt Danielle Collins (US) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; 7-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Laura Siegemund (Germany) 6-3, 6-3.
Tuesday’s remaining results:
Men’s singles:
Quarter-finals: 12-Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) bt 3-Dominic Thiem (Austria) 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Jannik Sinner (Italy) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-1.
Women’s singles:
Quarter-final: Iga Swiatek (Poland) bt Martina Trevisan (Italy) 6-3, 6-1.