Stephens vs. Halep in women’s final today
PARIS (AP) — Sloane Stephens enters today’s French Open final against No. 1 Simona Halep with a 6-0 record in tournament title matches.
“I’m pretty calm on the court all the time, I’d say. I don’t get too up, too down,” Stephens said. “I think that it has helped me.”
Halep, on the other hand, is 0-3 with a Grand Slam trophy at stake.
“Hopefully,” Halep said, “tomorrow, I will be better than previous ones.”
Here’s something the women who meet for the championship at Roland Garros do have in common: They rarely seem to let a point end quickly.
Halep, a 26-year-old Romanian, and the 10th-seeded Stephens, a 25-year-old American, are among the best there is right now at using instinct and speed to track down tough-to-reach shots and force opponents to hit another.
And that’s not to say they’re merely content to push balls back.
Both have learned to pick the right spots to be aggressive and are quite capable of switching from retriever to attacker in a blink.
“They obviously both move really well. It’s going to be who can stay in the point the longest,” said Madison Keys, who lost to Stephens in the French Open semifinals Thursday and in the U.S. Open final last September.
That matchup could make for long, riveting exchanges.
Neither finalist ever seems willing to concede she’s out of a point. Or, as they’ve shown in this tournament, a match.
Stephens was two points from defeat in the third round against Camila Giorgi of Italy, before coming back to win 8-6 in the third set.
Halep began as poorly as could be, falling into a 5-0 hole in the first set of her first-round match against Alison Riske of the U.S., before coming back to win.
Halep also dropped the opening set of her quarterfinal against two-time major champ Angelique Kerber. But Halep turned that one around, too.
Halep, 16-14 overall in tour finals, has lost twice at this stage at the French Open, to Maria Sharapova in 2014, then to Jelena Ostapenko after leading by a set and 3-0 in the second a year ago. Her third defeat with a major title on the line came against Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open in January.
“I’m more relaxed about this situation,” said Halep, who is 5-2 against Stephens, winning their past four matches.