The São Paulo Open has been whittled down from a 32-player main draw to four, and the semifinals have ended up looking remarkably close to the seedings.
Almost.
Nadia Podoroska is the exception.
The Argentine is the only unseeded player left after beating Suzan Lamens 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. She now meets No. 2 seed Paula Badosa, the biggest name remaining in the draw.
On the other side, No. 4 seed Anna Blinkova faces 20-year-old No. 7 Kaitlin Quevedo, guaranteeing that one of them will turn an already strong week into a place in Sunday’s final.
Three seeds. One outsider. Two very different semifinal stories.
Badosa Keeps Moving Through the Bottom Half
Badosa arrived in São Paulo as the No. 2 seed and, following Leylah Fernandez’s withdrawal, became the most recognisable name left in the tournament.
Her opening assignment changed before she even took the court.
The scheduled match against Darja Semenistaja was cancelled, with lucky loser Justina Mikulskyte ultimately taking the place opposite Badosa.
The Spaniard won 6-3, 6-2.
She then needed three sets to get past Jazmin Ortenzi in the Round of 16, recovering from losing the opener to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The quarterfinal was much cleaner.
Badosa defeated American Mary Stoiana 6-4, 6-2, moving into the last four without allowing the match to become complicated.
Now comes Nadia Podoroska.
Podoroska Breaks Up the Seeded Party
The Argentine has produced the most disruptive run of the week.
Podoroska began by beating Lucrezia Stefanini 6-3, 6-4 before taking out No. 5 seed Eva Lys in the Round of 16, 7-5, 6-2.
Her quarterfinal against Lamens was considerably harder.
Podoroska edged a first-set tiebreak, lost the second and then recovered from 1-3 down in the third set to take the decider 6-3.
That made her the only semifinalist without a number next to her name.
Blinkova and Quevedo Get Their Shot at a Final
The top half has followed a different path.
Anna Blinkova, seeded fourth, has been one of the most convincing players in the draw. And, as the featured photo shows, she is clearly over the moon about it.
She beat Claire Liu 6-1, 6-3 in the first round, then dismissed Vendula Valdmannova 6-3, 6-0.
Her quarterfinal was tighter, but Blinkova still came through in straight sets against No. 8 seed Alina Charaeva, 6-4, 7-5.
Kaitlin Quevedo’s run has been just as notable.
The No. 7 seed entered after several changes around her first-round match and eventually defeated lucky loser Alevtina Tikhonova 6-0, 6-2.
She then swept past Brazilian wildcard Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva 6-2, 6-1 before beating Teodora Kostovic 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Four Brazilian players received wildcards into the main draw.
Barros lost to Kostovic, Cé was beaten by Lys, while Meligeni Alves fell in three sets to Lamens. Only Leme Da Silva made it through the opening round.
Now Blinkova and Quevedo play each other with a place in the final waiting.
For both, it is the kind of opportunity that can turn a good tournament into a career week.
None of the Four Qualifiers Reaches the Second Round
The qualifying finals produced four main-draw winners:
Xin Yu You, Cadence Brace, Chloe Paquet and Whitney Osuigwe.
Their main-draw fortunes were short-lived.
You lost in the first round to Charaeva, 6-3, 6-7(5), 3-6.
Brace fell to No. 3 seed Solana Sierra, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6.
Paquet was beaten by Ortenzi 6-3, 6-2.
Osuigwe had qualified with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tikhonova, but her scheduled first-round match against Quevedo was cancelled. Tikhonova subsequently entered the draw as a lucky loser and faced Quevedo instead.
So none of the four players who won through qualifying ultimately reached the second round.
The São Paulo Open Semifinals
Saturday’s São Paulo lineup is now set:
Kaitlin Quevedo (7) vs. Anna Blinkova (4)
Nadia Podoroska vs. Paula Badosa (2)
Badosa carries the role of being the favourite now.
Blinkova and Quevedo both have the chance to turn a relatively open half of the draw into a final appearance.
And Podoroska stands alone as the player who has ignored the numbers beside everybody else’s name.
Three seeds made it through.
One player from just across the border did not need one.
That is the shape of the São Paulo semifinals.