World number 85 Tamara Zidansek reached her maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open today ©Getty Images

Tamara Zidansek and Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkova reached their first Grand Slam semi-finals after coming through marathon quarter-final matches on the tenth day of the French Open at Roland-Garros in Paris.

Zidansek, the world number 85 from Slovenia, upset 33rd seed Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 in a thrilling open contest of the singles quarter-finals that lasted two hours and 26 minutes.

Zidansek, a former three-time junior national snowboarding champion who switched sports due to "always feeling cold" battled back from a double break down in the first set to take it 7-5.

The Slovenian led 3-1 in the second set but was broken in three straight service games as Badosa battled back to take the set 6-4 and level the contest.

Badosa claimed the early advantage in the decider before Zidansek levelled once again.

Zidansek did not freeze as the pressure grew and after saving three break points in the 13th game, broke her opponent’s serve to close out the decider 8-6.

The second women’s quarter-final of the day had a hard act to follow but also went the distance with Pavyluchenkova defeating her doubles partner, 21st seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-7, 6-2, 9-7.

After the pair exchanged breaks in the opening set, Rybakina dominated the first set tie-break taking it by seven points to two.

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the last four at the French Open after winning the night session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier ©Getty Images
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the last four at the French Open after winning the night session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier ©Getty Images

Pavlyuchenkova grabbed the momentum in the second set winning six straight games on her way to levelling the contest.

Pavlyuchenkova started strongly in the decider but was pegged back to 3-3 by a battling Rybakina, who knocked out seventh seed Serena Williams of the United States in the previous round.

The crucial break came in the 16th game with a double fault from her opponent securing Pavlyuchenkova’s victory 9-7 in another marathon contest lasting two hours and 33 minutes.

In the men’s singles quarter-finals sixth seed Alex Zverev of Germany was a convincing winner against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, triumphing 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

Afterwards, Davidovich Fokina told Spanish journalists he had been hampered during the match by a back injury, which had left him unable to put his socks on that morning.

In the second men’s quarter-final of the day, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beat Daniil Medvedev of Russia, the second seed in the night session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Tsitsipas, who had a better record on clay, won 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 with a battling performance to set up a semi-final with Zverev.