LEARNING
Court Philippe Chatrier opens on Wednesday with a quarterfinal showdown between No.7 seed Petra Kvitova and Laura Siegemund. In their only prior encounter, Kvitova dispatched Siegemund 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round of the 2015 US Open.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova is into the 13th Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career, and is one win away from matching her best-ever Roland Garros showing. The Czech reached the semifinals in Paris in 2012, where she fell to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.
World No.11 Kvitova, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, is projected to return to the Top 10 by virtue of reaching the quarterfinals this week. The former World No.2 is 8-1 against players ranked outside the Top 50 in 2020, with the one loss coming to World No.93 Shelby Rogers in the round of 16 at the US Open, in a final-set tiebreak.
Siegemund will contest her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal match on Wednesday. At age 32, she is the second-oldest player to make her Grand Slam quarterfinal debut, behind Norma Marsh at the 1971 Australian Open.
World No.66 Siegemund seeks the 15th Top 20 win of her career against Kvitova, which would be her third of the season and second of this event. The German claimed a Top 20 win in the third round when she ousted No.13 seed Petra Martic -- her first-ever victory over a Top 20 player at a Grand Slam event.
Siegemund has now won four consecutive main-draw matches for the first time since her title run on clay at 2017 Stuttgart, where she scored three consecutive Top 10 wins en route to the biggest title of her career. Siegemund also just won her biggest career women's doubles title last month, when she and Vera Zvonareva paired to hoist the trophy at the US Open.
In the last singles quarterfinal of the tournament, an all-American affair between No.4 seed Sofia Kenin and Danielle Collins will determine who rounds out the semifinal lineup.
The unseeded player has the head-to-head advantage over the seed, as Collins has defeated World No.6 Kenin in all three of their previous meetings, including a straight-set win earlier this year in Adelaide. This will be their first meeting on clay.
Reigning Australian Open champion Kenin is into her first Roland Garros quarterfinal, and, in fact, this is her first trip to the last eight of a Grand Slam event outside of her run to the title in Melbourne earlier this season.
This is also Kenin's first-ever clay-court quarterfinal showing at WTA-level. Prior to this fortnight, her best result on the surface was her run to the fourth round in Paris last year, where she ousted Serena Williams before losing in three sets to eventual champion Ashleigh Barty.
Despite her lopsided head-to-head against Collins, Kenin has a 7-1 win-loss record against fellow Americans at the Grand Slam events, with the one loss coming at the hands of Madison Keys at the 2019 US Open.
Collins' best previous result at Roland Garros was a second-round showing in 2019, where she, like Kenin, also lost to eventual champion Barty. This fortnight, she was helped along by 140 winners in her four matches, which is the second-most in the tournament behind Nadia Podoroska (145).
World No.57 Collins is into her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, alongside her run to the semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open. Collins will aim to upset Kenin for the fifth Top 10 win of her career and her third of the season.
TRENDING
💥I would have never thought that this adventure will take so long. It's amazing. Thank you for all your support.
— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) October 6, 2020
Nigdy nie przypuszczałabym, że moja przygoda z tegorocznym French Open potrwa tak długo. Dziękuję za Wasze wsparcie!💥 #itsnotoveruntilitsover pic.twitter.com/Gvval8nv08
SEMIS! 😍🇫🇷💜 #RolandGarros #teamlasante #disneyplusla #teamfila #vamospormas
— Nadia Podoroska (@nadiapodoroska) October 6, 2020
Foto credit 📸: Clement Mahoudeau @FFTennis pic.twitter.com/2QrbHSec84
Siiiiiiii @nadiapodoroska lo que jugaste! Felicitaciones a todo el equipo!! Gracias por seguir animándote 💪🏼💪🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 @rolandgarros #rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/akOSizja6f
— Gabriela Sabatini (@sabatinigabyok) October 6, 2020
ORDER OF PLAY
The semifinal lineup will be wrapped up on Wednesday.
For the Order of Play in full, visit rolandgarros.com.
WEATHER
Mostly overcast for the duration of play, but precipitation is not expected. High temperature of 17C/63F.
READING
Defending doubles champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic have shrugged off a paucity of clay-court prep and are hungry to end the year on a high note with another French Open title, writes Alex Sharp at rolandgarros.com.
Iga Swiatek propelled herself into her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal on Tuesday; WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen caught up with the sports psychologist who, by honing her mental game, helped the Polish teenager get there.
WATCHING
