Roland Garros 2020: Nadia Podoroska and Diego Schwartzman, with a defined schedule for their quarter-final matches

05/10/2020 - 17:45

• Clarín.com

• sports

The renewed

 will be the scene this Tuesday of one of the most important days in recent times for Argentine tennis.

In the main stadium of Roland Garros, Diego Schwartzman and Nadia Podoroska will try to extend their magical days in Paris, in two duels against dangerous rivals in which they will have a lot at stake.

The porteño, 14th in the ranking, will face Austrian Dominic Thiem, third favorite and recent champion of the US Open, in the quarterfinals, and will look for a victory that will ensure him get into the top 10 for the first time. And Rosario, 131st in the ranking of The WTA will go for a win over

fourth-seeded

Ukrainian

to enter her first Grand Slam semi-final.

Podoroska will jump onto the court first, since she will play in the second turn, around 7.15 in our country.

Then, around 8.30, Schwartzman will perform.

The two games will be televised on

.

The quarter-round will be completed by the duels of 

 with 

and Rafael Nadal (2nd) against 

, which will be played after the

match

.

Schwartzman, 12th favorite of the French competition, arrived in Paris with the aim of getting into the top 10. The falls of several of his direct rivals in that race and his good performances left him facing a specific chance and depending only on him.

If you beat Thiem and advance to the semifinals, you will reach that elite group for the first time.

It will not be easy for the porteño, who did not give up sets throughout the tournament and comes from defeating Italian

6-1, 6-3 and 6-4 to

match his best historical performance in a "great", at least until now.

In front of him he will have an opponent who plays very well on brick dust - he is for many the best player on this surface, behind Nadal - and who comes with high confidence after winning his first title in this category in New York.

Thiem needed five sets to beat Frenchman Gaston, one of the revelations of the tournament, in the round of 16.

Martin Bureau / AFP Forum

However, the

has reason to dream.

He is also going through a great moment and at the

showed that he has tennis and the head to face and beat anyone.

In the Italian capital he even had the luxury of celebrating his first victory against Nadal, after nine consecutive defeats;

and he complicated in the first set of the final Serbian Novak Djokovic, world number one.

In Paris, he reached the quarterfinals with three very solid wins and without losing sets.

He beat the Serbian

, 41st in the ranking,

in his debut

;

in the second round Italian

, 157 °;

and in the third, the Slovak

, 106 °;

before dispatching Sonego.

Thiem, who lost the finals of this tournament to Nadal in 2018 and 2019 and this year was also a finalist in the Australian Open, also overcame the first three rounds without much trouble, with clear victories against Croatian Marin Cilic, 40th;

the American Jack Sock, 310 °;

and Norwegian

, 28th seed.

But on Sunday he needed five sets to overcome Frenchman

, 239th and one of the revelations of the contest.

Friends off the court, Thiem and Schwartzman share practice and were partners in doubles several times.

Instagram photo @dieschwartzman

Friends off the court and several times teammates in doubles;

Schwartzman and Thiem have met eight times in the past, with six wins for the Austrian and two for the Argentine.

Although it will be the first time they will collide in a Grand Slam.

Nadia Podoroska will also have a complicated commitment for the quarterfinals of the women's team, because she will collide with Svitolina, number five in the world and one of the most dangerous players on brick dust on the WTA circuit.

If she manages to hit the ground running, she will score the most important victory of her career and will enter the semis of a competition in this category for the first time, which will be a huge achievement for her and for all Argentine tennis.

The Rosario is, without a doubt, the great surprise of the Roland Garros women's team.

She swept in qualifying, which she overcame without giving up sets, and then won against Germany's

(110th);

Kazakh

(27th), Slovak

(161st) and Czech

(114th).

Thus, she earned a place among the eight best, yielding just two sets, and became the first Argentine to access that instance since 2004, when

Poroska became the first Argentine to reach the quarterfinals in Paris since 2004 on Sunday. Photo Thomas Samson / AFP

Svitolina will be a test of another level.

Third favorite, the Ukrainian comes from defeating French

in straight sets

and wants a place in the semis of a "big" for the third time.

She's reached that round twice, both last year at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Owner of a very complete tennis, she appears as a more than difficult obstacle for Podoroska.

Although Nadia has an advantage: the Ukrainian does not know what she will find.

Not only did they never face each other before, but also Svitolina herself acknowledged that she knew nothing about Rosario's game.

"To be honest,

. I heard his name, but honestly I do not know at all. But if he has come so far it is because he is playing well, it necessarily has to be that way," he evaluated on Sunday. 

Svitolina reached the semis at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, her best performances at Grand Slams.

Photo REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes

Argentina is experiencing the best season of her career and in the French capital she is reaping the fruits of many years of work.

Like Schwartzman, this Tuesday she will try to extend her magical week in Paris, in a day in which they will seek to make more history for tennis in our country.

FK