Roland Garros Rewind
Underdogs on top: Unseeded Roland Garros quarterfinalists since 1999
From early harbingers for Francesca Schiavone and Carla Suárez Navarro to comeback runs for Maria Sharapova and Mary Pierce and record-setting performances from Jelena Ostapenko and Marketa Vondrousova, all the unseeded players who have reached a Roland Garros quarterfinal or better since 1999.
01
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As a 20-year-old qualifier ranked World No.125, Barbara Schwartz stunned two seeds - No.13 Dominique Monami and, saving three match points, No.5 Venus Williams - to reach the quarterfinals in 1999, though the Austrian's career would be beset by injuries.
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02
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Another Austrian, 21-year-old No.34-ranked Sylvia Plischke, had just come off her maiden Tier I quarterfinal in Rome and also upset two seeds - No.15 Barbara Schett and No.4 Jana Novotna - to reach the only major quarterfinal of her career in 1999.
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03
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Conchita Martínez had reached at least the quarterfinals every year between 1989 and 1996, and in 1999 - having fallen to World No.22 and unseeded for the first time since her 1988 debut - returned to the last eight for the ninth time.
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04
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In 2000, World No.25 Chanda Rubin's second Roland Garros quarterfinal run - including an upset of No.6 seed Nathalie Tauziat - paved the way for the American to return to the Top 20 for the first time since 1997.
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05
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2000 also saw 17-year-old qualifier Marta Marrero go all the way to the quarterfinals in her Grand Slam main draw debut, with the World No.108's run including a 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 comeback from 0-6, 1-4 down against Dominique Monami in the second round.
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06
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Future Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone reached her first major quarterfinal in 2001 at the age of 20, ranked World No.51 and fresh off her first Rome quarterfinal, via a third-round upset of No.10 seed Amanda Coetzer.
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07
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Russian former junior World No.1 Lina Krasnoroutskaya upset Nathalie Tauziat and Silvia Farina to reach the quarterfinals in 2001 as the 17-year-old World No.62 - and would back it up by making the Wimbledon fourth round a month later.
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08
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In 2001, a qualifier reached the quarterfinals for the third year running - Hungary's 23-year-old World No.131 Petra Mandula, who scored her first Top 20 win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Jelena Dokic in the third round.
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09
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Clarisa Fernández became the second lowest-ranked Roland Garros semifinalist in the Open Era on her 2002 debut, with the 20-year-old Argentinian World No.87 taking down two seeds - No.4 Kim Clijsters and No.13 Elena Dementieva - en route.
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10
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World No.47 Paola Suárez was a nemesis of seeded Frenchwomen in 2002, winning three-setters over No.8 Sandrine Testud, No.27 Nathalie Dechy and No.10 Amélie Mauresmo before losing the first all-Argentine major quarterfinal of the Open Era to Fernández.
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11
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A back injury had sidelined Mary Pierce for seven months in 2001, preventing the Frenchwoman from defending her Roland Garros title, but as a wildcard ranked No.132 she defeated No.9 seed Silvia Farina to reach the 2002 quarterfinals.
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12
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Nadia Petrova reached her first of two Roland Garros semifinals in 2003 as the World No.76, bouncing back from an injury-ravaged 2002 with a phenomenal run that included wins over Monica Seles in the first round and Jennifer Capriati in the fourth round.
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13
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Ranked World No.98 and making her Roland Garros debut, 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva became the youngest Grand Slam quarterfinalist in nine years in 2005 with a run that included a third-round defeat of No.11 seed Venus Williams.
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14
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Future World No.6 Carla Suárez Navarro made the quarterfinals of two of her first four Grand Slams, including on her main draw debut in 2008 as a 19-year-old World No.132-ranked qualifier via a third-round upset of Amélie Mauresmo.
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15
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Kaia Kanepi became the first Estonian to reach a major quarterfinal in 2008, the first of her six Grand Slam last-eight runs to date, with the World No.49 scoring wins over No.6 seed Anna Chakvetadze and Petra Kvitova en route.
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16
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Romanian World No.41 Sorana Cirstea defeated Caroline Wozniacki and - in an extraordinary 3-6, 6-0, 9-7 epic - Jelena Jankovic back-to-back to reach the only Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career to date in 2009 at the age of 19.
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17
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Playing her second event after a 10-month layoff due to shoulder surgery and ranked World No.102, Maria Sharapova battled through four three-setters - including over Nadia Petrova and Li Na - to reach her fourth Roland Garros quarterfinal in 2008.
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18
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Yaroslava Shvedova became the first Kazakh Grand Slam quarterfinalist in 2010 when the 22-year-old World No.36 took down No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and No.28 seed Alisa Kleybanova in her first of three major last-eight runs.
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19
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Two years later in 2012, Yaroslava Shvedova repeated the feat - this time as a qualifier coming back from health issues, becoming the lowest-ranked Roland Garros quarterfinalist ever at World No.142 after upsetting defending champion Li Na.
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20
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2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was ranked World No.39 in 2013 after missing the second half of 2012 due to a knee injury, but upset No.8 seed Angelique Kerber to reach her sixth Roland Garros quarterfinal.
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21
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Ranked World No.35, a 20-year-old Garbiñe Muguruza rode her second-round upset of No.1 seed Serena Williams all the way to her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2014 - two years before becoming Roland Garros champion.
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22
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World No.93 Alison Van Uytvanck had only won one match in five prior Grand Slam main draws, but in 2015 the Belgian 21-year-old put together her maiden quarterfinal run with victories over Kristina Mladenovic and No.32 seed Zarina Diyas.
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23
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Fresh off the Nurnberg title, World No.58 Kiki Bertens' 12-match winning streak took her to her first Grand Slam semifinal in 2016 after stunning Angelique Kerber in round one and triumphing in a 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 epic over Daria Kasatkina in round three.
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24
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World No.60 Yulia Putintseva did not drop a set en route to her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2016, upsetting No.12 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in round four before stretching No.1 seed Serena Williams to three sets.
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25
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Better known for her results on grass, World No.102 Tsvetana Pironkova peaked to upset Sara Errani and Sloane Stephens in 2016, before smart tactics in damp conditions enabled the Bulgarian to reach the last eight with a win over Agnieszka Radwanska.
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26
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World No.108 Shelby Rogers' run to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2016 began with a first-round upset of No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova and also featured an infamous 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-0 'bagel sandwich' scoreline over No.10 seed Petra Kvitova.
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27
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World No.47 Jelena Ostapenko became the lowest-ranked and first unseeded Roland Garros champion in the Open Era after a breathtaking 2017 run during which the Latvian turned 20 on semifinal day before shocking Simona Halep in the final.
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28
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Yulia Putintseva made a second Roland Garros quarterfinal as an unseeded player in 2018, belying her World No.98 ranking to oust No.22 seed Johanna Konta in the first round and No.26 seed Barbora Strycova in the fourth round.
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29
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A surging Marketa Vondrousova did not drop a set en route to the 2019 final, the No.38-ranked 19-year-old becoming the first teenager to reach a major final in nearly a decade with wins over Anastasija Sevastova and Johanna Konta.
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