For the main draw at this year’s tournament in Roland Garros, a wild card into Bogota might have helpedFrancesca Schiavone, former French Open champion to qualify.

So far into the season, the 2010 French Open champion had gone on without a single win in any match which thus saw her drop down in the rankings to No. 168. However, all she needed was to ask for a wild card which would allow her participate in the small WTA International tournament held in Bogota.

She received a wild card eventually and paved her way through to defeat three of the tour four seeds. In the final, she completed the journey by taking down an injured Lara Arruabarrena.

After emerging victorious, the 35-year old Italian leapt up and down the court and spoke to the local press, comparing this victory to that of her biggest career win back in Paris.

She said; “In this moment I have memories of my championship in Roland Garros. I have always had very good performances on clay. It was too long since I won a title and I am very pleased to win again.

“It was a very good tournament for me here in Bogota. I felt very excited to be playing my game.”

This title run thus took her up in the world rankings from a former No. 168 to No. 104 just right at the edge of qualifying for the French Open main draw. Usually, based on the rankings of this week, the top 104 players qualify at the cutoff for the main draw.

However, the number of players who qualify could be a bit higher or lower than 104. This is normally subject to the amount of withdrawals from the event by players or protected ranking entries.