Mum's the word for Timea Bacsinszky after career turnaround

Timea Bacsinszky pin-pointed the turning point of her career, as she approaches the biggest match in it so far - a French Open quarter-final against Alison Van Uytvanck.

The Swiss 23rd seed was all but retired in 2013 when she got an automated email from the French Open, informing her that her ranking enabled her to enter qualifying.

Bacsinszky got in her car and drove the five-hour-plus journey from Lausanne to Paris to take up the opportunity, losing to Sharon Fichman in straight sets.

However, it lit the fire for her passion for the sport - and two years on, she is favourite to progress to the semi-finals in Paris against the unseeded Van Uytvanck.

Bacsinszky said her mother Suzanne, a dentist from Hungary, deserved credit for helping the now 25-year-old back to competitive tennis, and into the last eight of a grand slam.

"After my match, I was lucky to be able to sign the camera for the first time. And I just said, 'Thanks Mum', I mean, I call her Mummy. It's Hungarian," Bacsinszky said after her fourth-round victory over fourth seed Petra Kvitova on Monday.

"I remember her [Suzanne's] eyes, when two years ago, I just woke up, read the email, went down for breakfast, and I'm like, 'I'm not going to eat'. I was jumping, I had butterflies in my stomach, I'm like, 'I'm going to Roland Garros'.

"And she was like, 'You've gotta be kidding me. Like stop doing quitting, not quitting. Be responsible. You're going to be ridiculous on court'.

"I was like, 'I don't care. I want to go. I will probably keep on playing'.

"And she was like, 'We'll see'.

"While I was driving [to Paris], I called her again. I'm like, 'Well, I'm going to play again. I don't care if I get bagelled in my match, I don't care. I'm going to keep on playing. Be ready when I come back, we're going to sort it out, how it's going to be possible to make it happen that I play again'.

"And she was like, 'Well, there's not much money left, so I'm going to try and help you as much as I can, and we'll see how far you go. And I'm going to support you' - she said that. I remember when I just came back and had those sprinkles in my eyes, and she was like, 'OK, we've got a final solution. We're going to try'.

"Without her, I wouldn't be here, because I think no one on Earth would give me any financial support two years ago with a broken foot, with the past that I had and everything.

"She was the one."