Halep chases first slam
THE French Open women’s final is an intriguing match-up of two players who have either tasted victory on the biggest of stages or come tantalisingly close.
On one side of the court is American Sloane Stephens, who won her first grand slam at last year’s US Open and has an unbeaten streak of six wins in tournament finals.
Standing opposite is Simona Halep, the Romanian who sits on top of the world rankings but has yet to win a major honour in her previous three attempts, which includes the 2017 Roland Garros final she lost to Jelena Ostapenko.
Do those statistics mean the psychological advantage falls to the 25-year-old American?
“No. She’s number-one in the world for a reason,” Stephens says.
“I think that we’ll just have to go out and compete. I have had good opportunities in finals, and I have taken advantage of them.
“I have played well, played solid. And, I mean, there is no formula. I didn’t, like, try to do it. I’m not trying to break a re- cord. It’s just how it’s happened for me.”
Halep felt disappointment at her last final earlier this year in Melbourne where she lost the Australian Open to adversary Caroline Wozniacki.
“I will focus on myself, like I did every match here,” the 26year-old says. “And I will try just to be calm during the match and try everything I can. Because it’s a nice opportunity, a big challenge, so I have just to feel happy after the match that I gave everything.
“It’s (a) different match, different year. So I expect nothing. I lost three times until now and no one died, so it will be okay. But I will be, I think, more confident, because I have a lot of experience. In tennis, you never know, so I will stay chill.”
Stephens, however, prefers to take the match into her own hands from the very start.
“No one is going to hand you the match,” Stephens says.
“It’s a grand slam final. You have to go out there and get after it and make sure you play every point and try to execute your game plan as best as possible.”
The women’s final is at 11pm today.