Halep determined to end losing streak
DEL POTRO ON THE WARPATH
the French Open final was played a year ago, Sloane Stephens was nowhere near Roland Garros. She was in Chicago with coach Kamau Murray, working her way back from a foot injury that required surgery and sidelined her for 11 months. “Indoors on a hard court. Getting ready for grass. Barely walking. Playing tennis next to a bunch of 5- and 6-year-old screaming kids,” Murray recalled. “So to be here from there is rewarding, because those times were not easy.” The times are good now. Stephens closed in on her second Grand Slam title by beating pal Madison Keys 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday in the first all-American semifinal at French Open since 2002. It also was a rematch of the US Open final won by Stephens last September.
“It’s always hard playing someone from your country and such a good friend,” Stephens said, “so I was really pleased to be able to get through that and play some good tennis.”
The 10th-seeded Stephens’ opponent in Saturday’s final will be Simona Halep, who emphatically ended the impressive French Open run of 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza by defeating her 6-1, 6-4.
Halep, who assured herself of retaining the No 1 ranking with the victory, earned a fourth chance to win her first major title.
She twice has lost in the final at Roland Garros , to Maria Sharap- ova in 2014 and to Jelena Ostapenko in 2017, and was the runner-up to Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open in January.
“I lost three times until now and no one died,” Halep said, “so it will be OK.”
Muguruza, a two-time Major champion, entered the semifinals having not lost a set in the tournament. She also was coming off a lopsided victory in the quarterfinals a day earlier, overwhelming Sharapova 6-2, 6-1.
But it took Muguruza quite a while to get going against Halep, who managed to keep sending ball after ball back over the net.
Backed by fans, Halep went ahead 3-0 with the help of only one winner. Of her first 14 points, 13 arrived via errors by Muguruza, nine unforced, four forced. It was 5-0 by the time Muguruza claimed a game.
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: The imposing Del Potro is not a man to mess with and a member of the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd might have made a sharp exit after getting on the wrong side of the Argentinian.
Del Potro was fuming at the end of the second set and he explained what had touch a nerve during his press conference. “It was someone who made a loud noise before my serve, and I made double fault.” said the fifth seed. “That’s why I got angry with someone. I couldn’t find the right person. But I got closer to them, just asking who was it? But I’m still trying to find the right person.”