Latvian becomes 1st unseeded player to reach Roland Garros final after Jausovec in 1983
Paris: The women’s World No.3 Simona Halep of Romania made a comeback into the final at Roland Garros after three years with a three-set victory over the second-seeded Karolina Pliskova here late Thursday night. She will face the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko who got a perfect birthday gift when she overcame Timea Bacsinszky in the other semifinal.
After finishing an epic comeback in the quarterfinal clash with Elina Svitolina, Halep showed the full extent of her defensive skills to outfox Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Third seed Halep, looking to become the first Romanian woman to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Virginia Ruzici in 1978, benefitted from her Czech opponent’s clumsiness in the first set before Pliskova rediscovered her touch.
Pliskova’s array of unforced errors meant Halep had a comfortable start, breaking in the third game and holding serve in the following to open a 3-1 lead. Pliskova saved a couple of set points at 5-3 to stay just a break down, before Halep sealing the set.
Pliskova was more focused in the second set, forcing Halep to hit a backhand wide to break for 4-2, then holding for 5-2 after saving three break points and eventually sealed the second set.
Halep, two metres from her baseline, unleashed a gravity-defying forehand passing shot to break for 3-1. Pliskova broke back to trail 4-3. Halep however, held her nerve to serve it out, ending the contest with an unreturnable serve at the Court Philippe Chatrier.
In the other semifinal, Ostapenko blazed into the final with a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3 win over Bacsinszky in a battle of the birthday girls ripping a screaming forehand straight through the tennis textbook.
On the day she turned 20 the free-swinging World No.47 launched a fusillade of 50 winners to become the first unseeded player to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros since Mima Jausovec lost to Chris Evert in 1983.
Mixed in with her scintillating winners, including forehands faster than anything men’s World No.1 Andy Murray has managed here so far, were 45 unforced errors, some of which could have embellished a video nasty.
Logic suggested the steady approach she adopted after losing a topsy-turvy first set in a tie-break would get the job done for the experienced Swiss. But just when the storm appeared to have blown over Ostapenko, who knocked over former runner-up Samantha Stosur and former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki en route to the semis, hit another purple patch to roar home from 3-3.
With Bacsinszky serving at 3-5 Ostapenko brought up two match points. Bacsinszky fended off one with a swinging serve but Riga’s finest made no mistake on the second, sending a forehand whistling into the corner to become the first Latvian player to reach a Grand Slam final.
Should she win Saturday against third seed Simona Halep, she would become only the second unseeded player to win the women’s title at the French Open after Britain’s Margaret Scriven in 1933.
Agencies