Austrian player (Russian born) Anastasia Potapova has made history at the Madrid Open by becoming the first "lucky loser" to reach a WTA Masters 1,000 semi-final, when she beat Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, setting a semi-final with the Ukrainian World No. 23 Marta Kostyk, on Thursday at 21:30 CEST.
Potapova lost in the qualifying stages of the competition but is only playing in Madrid because she replaced a player that withdrew. But to reach this stage, she had to defeat three other rivals, including World No. 2 Elena Rybakina, doing so in straight sets at the round of 16.
Potapova, 25, is currently ranked World No. 56, and reached her top ranking in 2023, World No. 21, and has won three WTA 250 tournaments in Istanbul, Linz, and Transylvania. Her Madrid semi-finals are already her best ever place in a big tournament; and she reached her biggest final last month in at the Linz Open in Austria, losing to Mirra Andreeva.
Born in Russia, Potapova changed her allegiance to Austria in December 2025, automatically becoming the highest ranked Austrian player, displacing Julia Grabher. In 2023, she was given a formal warning by the WTA for wearing a football shirt of Spartka Moscow, deemed inappropriate due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but she argued that it was not a political statement, and she had always been a fan of the football team.
Potapova credits his boyfriend's appearance in the crowd during the third set (also tennis player Tallon Griekspoor, ranked 33 in ATP) that gave her mental strength to overcome the match, after losing three consecutive games in the second set when she was leading 5-3.