Tamara Zidansek powered into the French Open semi-finals on Tuesday with a three-set win over Paula Badosa as her remarkable campaign at Roland Garros continued.
The world number 85 was the lowest-ranked player in the quarter-finals, which featured six players never to have reached this stage of a grand slam before, a record in the Open Era.
The first woman representing Slovenia to get to the last eight of a major, Zidansek handled the occasion better as she moved a set and 4-2 ahead on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Badosa responded with some powerful hitting as her opponent began to falter, but Zidansek summoned up energy reserves when it mattered to clinch a 7-5 4-6 8-6 win in two hours and 26 minutes.
Badosa, the 33rd seed, had never before been beyond the fourth round of a slam but came into the contest with some pedigree at this event, having won the girls' title in 2015.
The Spaniard eased into a 3-0 lead in the opening set, but Zidansek won five of the next six games to take the lead in the match for the first time. Badosa warded off a set point but succumbed to the second as a slice clipped the top of the net.
Badosa had been one of the form players on clay this year, winning in Belgrade last month after reaching the semi-finals in Madrid and Charleston, but the 23-year-old sent a tight forehand into the tramlines to hand Zidansek a 3-1 lead in the second set.
The Slovenian was similarly tentative in the next game, sending a careless shot long to hand back the break to trigger a succession of unsteady service games from both players.
Badosa, who racked up five double faults in the second set, fell 4-2 behind, only to respond with three games in a row, breaking Zidansek to love before levelling the match when a strong forehand forced an error.
Just as she looked in control, Badosa slapped a forehand into the net to hand back a break, and suddenly Zidansek's laser groundstrokes began to find their mark again, a thumping winner moving her 5-4 ahead.
She dug deep to save break points and move 7-6 ahead after the longest game of the match, and one last forehand winner on the second match point was enough to end a gruelling contest and set up a semi-final against the victor of the clash between Elena Rybakina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Data Slam: Zidansek on target at critical moments
"I was struggling a little bit but, in the third set, I managed to get my groove," said an emotional Zidansek after an exhausting match.
Her accuracy at the crucial points late in the contest proved decisive. She hit 22 of her 48 winners in the deciding set, helping her to swat away break points before clinching the victory.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Zidansek – 48/39
Badosa – 31/47
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Zidansek – 1/3
Badosa – 2/9
BREAK POINTS WON
Zidansek – 8/13
Badosa – 7/14
Sinner avoids O'Connell upset at US Open
Jannik Sinner beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open on Saturday, avoiding a similar fate to Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
The men's draw at Flushing Meadows has been blown wide open by early exits for Alcaraz and Djokovic, but the top seed remains in the hunt after a composed performance.
He reached the fourth round for a fourth consecutive year with a routine 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory, setting the tone with several huge groundstrokes in the opening set.
O'Connell never looked likely to fight back as Sinner smashed 46 winners in a ruthless performance, wrapping up his win in one hour and 56 minutes.
The Australian Open champion will face either Tommy Paul or Gabriel Diallo for a place in the last eight, and he was relieved to survive an opening week full of surprises.
"Everything can happen in this sport, so I try to stay on my side of the net and I'm trying to take the tournament day by day," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the win.
"Each opponent is a very tough challenge and [I am] also enjoying every moment on the court. There have been already a couple of upsets, so let's see what's coming.
"But I'm very happy to still be here and hopefully I can play as many matches as possible. But as I said, we go day by day and then we'll see how it goes."
Data Debrief: Sinner heating up
Sinner lost his first set of the tournament to Mackenzie McDonald but has been largely untouchable since then.
He has only lost 18 games across his last nine sets of tennis, an average of two per set.
The Italian's winning streak now stands at seven straight matches, meanwhile, following his triumphant Cincinnati Open run.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
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