French Open 2020: First-time Slam entrants, wildcards, qualifiers, surprises galore at Roland Garros

One of the defining factors for French Open in the last two decades has been in its surprise element. It has been in its ability to throw in new, ‘unknown’ names into the mix. Be it an unseeded Gaston Gaudio overturning a two sets deficit to Guillermo Coria in the final in 2004, or Martin Verkerk the year after to reach the final. Over on the women’s side, it would be the 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina who hadn’t gone past the second round at a Slam before that. Or it could be then 20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko winning in 2017.

The string of surprise results and cases of “Who is that?” has continued this year at Roland Garros. 10 of 16 women and six of 16 men were unseeded in the fourth round of the French Open with wildcard entrants, qualifiers and surprise packages have all made their mark with the best in the business.

On Sunday, 12-time champion Rafael Nadal and US Open winner Dominic Thiem were in action against two players outside the top-200. While Nadal had no trouble against qualifier Sebastian Korda, Thiem was pushed all the way to a fifth set by wildcard Hugo Gaston. The wildcard had already proven himself by sending former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka packing.

Sebastian, son of 1998 Australian Open champion and 1992 Roland Garros runner-up Petr, not only pocketed over $200,000 from his run to last-16 but was more pleased by convincing childhood idol Nadal to give him a signed shirt.

“It was definitely the best moment of my life, super awesome,” said the 20-year-old who has named his cat after Rafa.

Korda, former junior No. 1, made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open before coming to Paris to successfully qualify for a major for the first time.

From 2016-2020, only *three* players have won at least two sets in a match against Dominic Thiem at Roland-Garros:

Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
Hugo Gaston

— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) October 4, 2020

Gaston, who earned plenty of praise from the French crowd and Thiem, had become the lowest-ranked player to reach the round of 16 of the men’s singles at Roland Garros since Arnaud di Pasquale in 2002.

“Such good fighting qualities from him I haven’t seen a player like this with so much touch in his hands in a long time. His drop shots are just from another planet, I was sprinting around 400 times to the net,” said Thiem of Gaston.

“If he continues like this he’s going to be a huge, huge player. He’s going to make a lot of joy in this stadium in the future.”

There are multiple possible reasons for the wide range of unseeded players and newbies going deep into the tournament. It could be the conditions: chillier and slower now from its usual spot in May-June. It could well be the reduced attendance, 1000 a day, that aids newcomers to focus on their tennis and not be overawed by the spectacle. It could also be the limited match practice for many on clay or in general. Or, let’s give credit where due, it could be the players themselves.

Daniel Altmaier, 22-year-old German, ranked 186th, playing just his first Grand Slam main draw while coming through qualifying, said, “Literally everyone can beat everyone at the moment." He will go up against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the fourth round on Monday.

He’s proven that hypothesis right so far. Altmaier is yet to drop in the main draw of the tournament, including against No 7 seed Matteo Berrettini to follow up on a victory over compatriot Jan-Lennard Struff.

“You can go out any round,” said Garbiñe Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion who was beaten by Danielle Collins. “I’m seeing players that, you know, some of them (I’ve) never seen before, playing incredible."

Jannik Sinner made this only the second French Open in the Open era, which began in 1968, with a quartet of men making the fourth round the first time they played the event. On Sunday, he beat Alexander Zverev in four sets to make it just the second instance in the Open Era of a male and female Italian reaching the quarters alongside Martina Trevisan.

The 159th ranked qualifier Trevisan has been doing regular video chats from her hotel room with her mental coach. As someone who has had a rough start to tennis, she had anorexia a decade ago with expectations and press mounting on her. She took a four and half year break and returned in 2014. In just her second Grand Slam main draw appearance, she has beaten Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari and Kiki Bertens.

“Don’t ever give up, even in the toughest moments, where it really feels like life wants the worst for you, like it doesn’t care about you at all. Stay strong and seek the light. Because there is light there, and it will arrive,” she said on her journey.

Elsewhere, Paula Badosa also extended her initial appearance into the second week. The 22-year-old from Spain, ranked 87th, defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and next faces Laura Siegemund.

Qualifier Nadia Podoroska, ranked 131st in the world, defeated Barbora Krejcikova to reach the quarters. The Argentine is making her debut in Paris and will face third seed Elina Svitolina next.

Podoroska was ranked 255th at the start of the season, has now won 42 matches across all tours in 2020 (42-8 record) despite the COVID-19 affected season and will make her top 100 debut after the tournament.

Three years ago, on her only other visit to Paris, Podoroska fell in the first round of qualifying, losing to Marketa Vondrousova in just 39 minutes, winning just 21 points.

Halep on Swiatek. "She played unbelievable today and she was everywhere. She hit all the balls in very strong, very powerful. It was a little bit cold and I couldn't be at my best, but, yeah, she played really well and her match was like, no, it was her match today." pic.twitter.com/P1ceSAFDW0

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 4, 2020

But arguably the biggest surprise result so far has been Polish teenager Iga Swiatek beating top-seed Simona Halep. Not new to Grand Slam or main draws, Swiatek reached the fourth round last year in Paris and lost to the Romanian while collecting just the one game. On Sunday, it was a different story.

The 54th ranked Swiatek was dealing with school and regular tennis up until last year. Now? Her coach Piotr Sierzputowski considers her a ‘beast’.

“Nobody surprises anybody anymore,” said two-time Major champion Halep after the loss.

“I am surprised I could do this,” Swiatek said after ending Halep’s 17-match winning streak.

“It’s really nice, I think, overall for tennis to see new faces, young players,” Djokovic said. “I feel like, of course, you need brands. You want some familiar faces to be out there, because that attracts the crowd and interest of people to watch tennis."

“But at the same time, it’s nice that when you have young players coming in, making a statement in one of biggest tournaments in the world, I think it’s also very positive for our sport.”