Tamara Zidansek became the 1st Slovenian tennis player in women’s singles, who reached the semifinals of the French Open Grand Slam tournament

World number 85 Tamara Zidansek was named the first Slovenian to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday.

85th-ranked Zidansek beat Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 to become the first semifinalist of the French Open 2021. She had never been beyond the second round at a Slam prior to this tournament.

Unseeded Zidansek saved three break points in the penultimate game to hold for a 7-6 lead in the third and Badosa then crumbled in the final as the 23-year-old sealed victory with a thumping forehand winner in 2 hours and 26 minutes.

Zidansek will face either Elena Rybakina or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the final.

Zidansek, a former competitive snowboarder, had defeated 2009 French Open quarter-finalist Sorana Cirstea 7-6(4) 6-to enter the last-8 stage.

In Tuesday’s match, spurred on by the vocal support of her coaching team on Court Philippe Chatrier, showed tremendous grit against Badosa.

The French Open is the only remaining Grand Slam where tiebreakers are not played in the last set. Wimbledon recently installed tiebreakers at 12-12 in the final set.

After splitting the first two sets, Badosa violently threw her racket in anger at the changeover after Zidansek held for a 6-5 lead in the third. She regained her composure but Zidansek then saved three break points to take a 7-6 lead and converted her second match point with a big forehand in the next game.

In perfect weather conditions, both players pulled off some spectacular winners but also hit a lot of unforced errors.

Badosa applied pressure from the start with a flurry deep groundstrokes from the baseline. The strategy worked as Zidansek dropped her first service game and then trailed 3-0. But an error-strewn game from Badosa gave her rival a break and a boost.

Zidansek started to return better and went for her shots, linking attacks with bold moves at the net to even the score at 3-3. Badosa saved a set point in the 12th game with a forehand attack but could not fend off the second as her poor drop shot ended up in the net.

Badosa trailed 4-2 in the second set after a series of unforced errors but Zidansek could not build on the momentum and struggled with her serve as the Spaniard made the decisive break in the ninth game at love and sealed the set with a big forehand.

Zidansek started her campaign at the Roland-Garros by upsetting seventh-seeded Bianca Andreescu for her first career win over a top-10 player.