Timea Bacsinszky has had a long and complex relationship with tennis, and many of her career chapters have played out in Paris.

The 27-year-old walked away from the court in 2013  after struggles with her "pushy parent" father ruined her desire to play. She instead started pursuing a career in hotel management in Switzerland.

Then, while in the midst of transitioning away from tennis, she was notified by Roland Garros that her ranking of No. 211 was enough to land her in the qualifying draw. Without any proper preparation, Bacsinzky hopped in a car and showed up. She would lose her first match, but that didn’t really matter, her love for tennis was rekindled—only now she would do things her way.

Advertising

Bacsinszky returned to Paris in 2014 with an improved ranking of No. 112, where she powered through qualifying and the first round before falling to Carla Suarez Navarro. She would have to wait another year to finally go beyond the third round of a major.

In 2015, her story finally got the attention it deserved. She romped her way to the French Open semifinals in one of the most emotional storylines of the year. The first Swiss to reach the Parisian semifinals since Martina Hingis, Bacsinszky stunned seeded players Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova, and led by a set against Serena Williams before bowing out.

Not losing any momentum in her Parisian love affair, the Swiss stormed into the quarterfinals once more in 2016, only to lose to surprise semifinalist Kiki Bertens. Either way, Bacsinskzy remained genuinely grateful for the ride.

Advertising

After reaching her career-high ranking of No. 9 last May, Bacsinszky’s ranking has taking a dive to the 30s (aided in part by injury). Since the quarterfinal run in Paris last year, she only made one other deep run (the semifinals in Gstaad).

But then, she returned to the Eternal City. This time around, Bacsinszky dropped just one set on her way to the quarterfinals, where she ousted local favorite Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4 on a rainy Tuesday.

Advertising

It's only fitting that Bacsinszky is regaining her footing on the Parisian dirt. She'll take on first-time semifinalist Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday (which just happens to be Bacsinskzy's 28th birthday and Ostapenko's 20th).

· Get Tennis Channel Plus for Roland Garros to watch 200 live matches from up to five courts, starting with the Qualifying Rounds.

· Watch the Best of Roland Garros 2016 on-demand at any time

· Get Tennis Channel Plus for all of Roland Garros, as well as 650+ live events all year long

· Tennis Channel Plus is available on any streaming device, on mobile, always on the GO (desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire)
· Subscribe today at BuyTCPlus.com