Game, set and match: Newbies in French Open semi-finals

It’s odd to see two competitors smiling and chatting away while standing across the net after a Grand Slam quarter-final, let alone a gruelling one that lasted for five hours and eight minutes. Such is the friendship between Dominic Thiem and Diego Schwartzman.

The encounter before the chat, however, was anything but friendly.

In a match with seemingly timeless baseline rallies, the diminutive Argentine sealed his maiden Grand Slam semi-final entry with a 7-6(1), 5-7, 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2 win against US Open champion Thiem. It was a classic clay court tussle which saw 119 points involving rallies of more than nine shots, split almost equally (Schwartzman won 60, Thiem 59). With an astonishing 19 breaks of serve, both players had chances to grab the initiative but neither really shut the door until the two-time French Open finalist - playing consecutive five set matches - finally ran out of gas in the final set.

It’s the second big fish that Schwartzman has taken down in the last few weeks after beating Rafael Nadal in the quarters at Rome. Schwartzman will look for an encore in Paris against the defending champion, who beat the talented Italian teen Jannik Sinner 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-1 in a largely well-contested quarter-final that started at 10.36pm local time and finished at 1.26am in the Paris chill.

This will be Schwartzman’s first Grand Slam semi - he’s 28-years-old and it’s taken him 25 attempts to get here. He is not the only first timer at the semis at Roland Garros; joining him in the club are Iga Swiatek, who is just 19, and 23-year-old fellow Argentine Nadia Podoroska.

Swiatek, the highly-rated teen, overcame a slow start to brush aside Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 to become the first Polish woman in the French Open last four since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1939.

Armed with an immaculate return of serve and a powerful forehand, Swiatek has had a breakthrough Grand Slam. After ending top seed and pre-tournament favourite Simona Halep’s 17-match unbeaten run in straight sets in the fourth round, she suddenly became the bookies’ favourite to bag the title. And that showed at the start against Trevisan. “At the beginning I felt little bit more pressure because I feel like after beating Simona, I’m not underdog anymore,” Swiatek said.

Certainly, the underdog when she takes on Podoroska in Thursday’s semi-final will be the latter. The Argentine hadn’t experienced what it is like to win a Grand Slam main draw match before last week. At this French Open, she has won five. And that’s to go with her three qualifying round victories.

Based in the Argentine city of Rosario - better known as the city Lionel Messi comes from - the world No.131 saw her ranking plummet to the region of 300s a couple of years ago after a serious wrist injury. It took out all her savings and self-confidence and almost forced her to end her professional career.

Good for her she didn’t. On Tuesday, she became the first qualifier in the Open era to reach the women’s semi-finals at Roland Garros. On Thursday, she will take a shot at becoming the first women’s qualifier ever to make the final of any Grand Slam.