Halep on to finals match
Can Simona Halep finally do it?
She has bounced back from disappointment after disappointment in the Grand Slam tournaments, where reputations and legacies are made and unmade.
And Thursday, with a gutsy and impressive victory over third-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza in the semifinals of the French Open, Halep earned herself another chance to become a Grand Slam champion.
Her 6-1, 6-4 victory was oneway traffic at the start as she jumped to a 5-0 lead, but Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion who had been playing ferocious and focused tennis in Paris this year, soon raised her level.
Halep had to come back from a break of serve down in the second set and fend off three break points at 4-4 before finally closing out the victory, which guaranteed she will remain No. 1 in the rankings after this tournament.
“I gave everything I had,” she said.
“I think I played again one of my best matches on clay.”
The No. 1 ranking, which Halep first secured late last season, is secondary to her goal of winning her first Grand Slam title.
But she is competing at a very high level again in Paris on what looks like her best surface. She will face the winner of Thursday’s all-American semifinal between Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys.