Player of the day: Podoroska continues historic Paris run

Nadia Podoroska has spent a lot of time on court winning matches this month. The Argentine reached the semifinals of the WTA 125K Series in Prague and then captured a W60 ITF title in Saint-Malo, France before heading to Paris to keep on winning.

The world No. 131-ranked qualifier is into the semifinals of Roland Garros after dismissing No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4. The 23-year-old has won 13 consecutive matches and is the first women's qualifier in the Open era to get this far in Paris.

Although she already has played eight matches in Paris, Podoroska took the court against Svitolina looking sharp and fresh, blasting 30 winners during the 80-minute affair.

"Fortunately I completely fresh," Podoroska said. "I don't have any pain or any problem in my body. The week before Roland Garros, I also won a tournament. I played five more matches in a row. Fortunately I'm good."

Just last year, Podoroska was ranked outside of the Top 300 and struggling to win qualifying matches in Palermo and Acapulco, and spent most of her time on the ITF tour. But she used the tour shutdown to buckle down on her game and mindset.

"I train a lot in my shots, my forehand, backhand, the serve," Podoroska said. "But what I improve most, I think it was my mentality."

The Rosario, Argentina native has struggled for years on the ITF tour and came close to stepping away from the game after she suffered a wrist injury and her ranking dropped.

"I had too many injuries. I'm drop my ranking. I been like eight months out of the tour. Then I didn't have money to start playing tournaments," the Argentine said. "It was a very tough moment for me because I also change all my team. I've been working with my old coach for 10 years, then we broke our relationship. I was a little bit, like, I didn't know what to do."

One year ago, she was ranked No. 308 and now she's guaranteed to crack the Top 50. In the semifinals, she will either take on Iga Swiatek or fellow qualifier Martina Trevisan.

Quick Facts:

16

It's been 16 years since a female Argentine reached a major semifinal (Paola Suarez, 2004 Roland Garros)

3rd

She's the third qualifier to reach the semifinal round of a Grand Slam in the Open Era

14

ITF titles she has won