Perfect strangers as first-time quartet contest French Open semi-finals

PARIS: Maria Sakkari, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Barbora Krejcikova or Tamara Zidansek will continue the recent trend of new Grand Slam champions at this year’s French Open after another tournament littered with surprises.

For just the second time in the Open era, there are four first-time major semi-finalists in the women’s singles, after the 1978 Australian Open.

Sakkari is the highest-ranked player left in the field at 18 in the world, 67 places above Zidansek, the first woman representing Slovenia to make the last four of a Slam.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x31) v Tamara Zidansek (SLO)

Head-to-head: First meeting

— Despite the return to its traditional May-June slot, the French Open women’s event has been just…