French Open 2020, Day 12: Order of Play and Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER -- 3:00 p.m. start
Iga SWIATEK (POL) vs. [Q] Nadia PODOROSKA (ARG)
followed by
[4] Sofia KENIN (USA) vs. [7] Petra KVITOVA (CZE)

For the Order of Play in full, visit rolandgarros.com.

LEARNING

In the first semifinal of the day at Roland Garros, Iga Swiatek

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19-year-old Swiatek, who made her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal and semifinal during this fortnight, has not dropped a set in her five matches, including her fourth-round stunner of No.1 seed Simona Halep.

The only other Polish woman to have made it this far at Roland Garros is Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, who was the runner-up in 1939. World No.54 Swiatek is hoping to match the showing by Agnieszka Radwanska at 2012 Wimbledon, who is the most recent Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final.

Podoroska made history earlier this week by becoming the first qualifier in the Open Era to reach the Roland Garros semifinals, doing so with her upset of No.3 seed Elina Svitolina

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World No.131 Podoroska is the lowest-ranked woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open Era.

With her performance, Podoroska matched the best showing by a qualifier at any Grand Slam in the Open Era, which are semifinal runs by Christine Dorey at the 1978 Australian Open and Alexandra Stevenson at 1999 Wimbledon. Podoroska is a win away from becoming the first qualifier to make a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

In only her second Grand Slam main draw appearance (she previously lost in the first round of the 2016 US Open), Podoroska is the first woman from Argentina to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Paola Suarez made the final four at 2004 Roland Garros. She is trying to become the first Argentine to make a Grand Slam final since Gabriela Sabatini at 1991 Wimbledon.

Reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin

View Profile and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will follow on Court Philippe Chatrier. Kvitova brings a 2-0 head-to-head lead into the encounter. Their most recent meeting came on clay, where Kvitova defeated Kenin in straight sets in the opening round of Madrid last season.

Kenin and Kvitova are the only two players who have reached at least the round of 16 at all three of this season's Grand Slam events.

Kvitova, like Swiatek, has not dropped a set en route to the semifinals. The former World No.2 is into the seventh Grand Slam semifinal of her career, as she seeks her fourth Grand Slam final appearance, and her first major final since the 2019 Australian Open (where she lost to Naomi Osaka

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Should Kvitova win the semifinal, she will become just the fourth active player to reach Grand Slam finals on clay, grass and hard. The three of her peers to have already done so are Simona Halep, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams.

World No.11 Kvitova has matched her previous best result at Roland Garros this fortnight. In 2012, she also reached the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. By making it this far this week, Kvitova is projected to return to the Top 10 of the WTA singles rankings.

Kvitova has won 77 percent of her service games during the fortnight, which is the highest percentage of any player to reach the second week.

World No.6 Kenin is in her second Grand Slam semifinal; her first came earlier this season, when she reached the final four at the Australian Open before winning two more matches to clinch her first-ever Grand Slam title.

Prior to this fortnight, Kenin's best result on clay 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.

A win over left-handed Kvitova would give Kenin a victory over a lefty in each of this year's majors. She beat Martina Trevisan

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WEATHER

Cloudy, but chances of rain are low. High temperature 66F/19C.

TRENDING

READING

Quarterfinal match reports:
Swiatek slides past Trevisan into French Open semifinals
Podoroska stuns Svitolina to create Roland Garros history
Kvitova moves past Siegemund into French Open semis
Kenin overcomes Collins to make Roland Garros semis

Iga Swiatek

View Profile 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