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Shelby Rogers

American Shelby Rogers has breakthrough to reach French Open quarterfinals

Nick McCarvel
Special for USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — The only part of the day that American Shelby Rogers needed help with on Sunday at the French Open was post-match, in her on-court interview: “How do I say ‘I’m really excited’ in French?” she asked Marion Bartoli.

Shelby Rogers (USA) celebrates match point  against Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) at the 2016 French Open.

The 23-year-old ranked No. 108 produced another shocker, a 6-3, 6-4 win over Irina-Camelia Begu on Court Suzanne Lenglen. It moves Rogers into the quarterfinals of a major for the first time in her career, where she’ll meet Wimbledon finalist Garbiñe Muguruza, the No. 4 seed.

“I’m so happy it didn’t start raining,” Rogers, a Charleston, S.C. native, joked under grey skies.

Rogers beat No. 17 seed Karolina Pliskova in the first round and No. 10 Petra Kvitova in the third round. Her four wins this week match her career total at majors leading in, having made the U.S. Open third round last year and the second round at the 2013 French and 2014 U.S. Open.

“I keep reminding myself to play one point at a time and that this is just another tennis match," said Rogers, who was just 6-5 in tour events this year before this week. "But that's getting a little bit harder to do as the rounds get farther.”

Having accrued just shy of $800,000 in career prize money, this is no doubt Rogers’ biggest payday: She’ll make at least €294,000 for making the quarterfinals, and more should she continue her Cinderella run.

"The people around me are doing a very good job of helping me" stay in the moment, Rogers said. "My coach, my family. You know, they are very excited obviously, but every time I go to hug them they're like, 'You're not done, you're not done.'"

Rogers served as a ball girl at the Charleston WTA as a kid, for players including Jennifer Capriati and Venus Williams. She has been based in Los Angeles for the last two years, coached by Marc Lucero and training at the USTA’s center there.

This will be Rogers and Muguruza’s first meeting.

She is the first American aside from the Williams sisters since 2005 to make the quarterfinals at the French Open. She's the lowest-ranked player in the quarterfinals here since 2012, when Yaroslava Shvedova made it as far as a 142nd-ranked qualifier.

Rogers, who is good friends with American Melanie Oudin, recalled her compatriot's Cinderella run at the U.S. Open in 2009 at 17.

"I remember it very well... It was a time we needed an American player to kind of grab on to," Rogers said. "She was so awesome, so feisty, and just really confident. It was definitely inspirational and gave me motivation to work harder, because I see her doing it, and thought 'Why not me?'

"I hope that I can inspire some people too because that's really one of the biggest reasons why I play is for the kids growing up, for the people from Charleston," she added. "I want to be a good role model. Hopefully I am."

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