Germany's Tamara Korpatsch said Wednesday it was "special" to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time at the age of 31, after spending part of her earlier career sleeping in a car while competing far from the bright lights of the French Open.
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Korpatsch will face Italian Open champion Elina Svitolina for a place in the second week at Roland Garros after a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Chinese 32nd seed Wang Xinyu.
Her victory over Wang on Court 7 in Paris was already a big step up from the first stage of her career, which was spent playing in unglamourous ITF tournaments.
She reached a career-high ranking of 71st in 2023 before a blip in form, returning to the top 100 earlier this season.
"Sometimes players forget, like if they are there (at the top), they forget what it means, because when we are lower, for us it's like something special," Korpatsch said after her landmark success.
"Now we are here, and sometimes we forget how really special it is... and I'm really doing good now.
"If I was thinking that I'd (be) here, like 10 years ago, I would never believe it, because it was just a dream."
Until the 2023 Wimbledon tournament, Korpatsch had qualified for only four Grand Slam events, losing in the first round at every one.
CARAVAN 'LUXURY LIFE'
Korpatsch played almost exclusively ITF Circuit tournaments in Europe between 2013-2019, winning nine titles.
The bulk of the world's top-10 players limited their pre-tournament media duties at Roland Garros in a call for increased prize money from Grand Slam organisers.
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka said she wanted to "stand up and fight" for "lower-ranked players".
"Me and my family didn't have it easy. We slept in the car when we started to play ITF tournaments and I couldn't play a lot of tournaments," said Korpatsch.
"I could play only in Germany, because we didn't have that much money.
"Then we started to play in France, which is close. We drove there everywhere with the car, with a very small car, and we slept in the car.
"After some time, we could afford, from my prize money, a caravan, and then we were with a camper beside the club always sleeping there. It was really nice, actually, like, luxury life for us then."
Korpatsch returned to the ITF circuit last year after dropping back out of the world's top 150, winning tournaments in Slovakia and Portugal.
She is now in the top 100 once more, and preparing for the biggest match of her career against seventh seed Svitolina on Friday.
"I had a lot of pressure, but at least I did it, and I'm a really big fighter," the Hamburg native said.
"Maybe that's the reason why I'm still fighting today like that.
"It means a lot to me that I'm in the third round now. Yeah, never before. And also, the breakthrough, the top 100 was already really a big step."
Korpatsch is already projected to rise from her current ranking of 95th to 77th after the French Open, while a shock win over Svitolina could propel her into the top 60.
She is guaranteed at least €187 000 in prize money for reaching the last 32, more than doubling her total takings for the year so far.