Halep in final, Del Potro set up Rafa clash
TOP SEED Simona Halep reached her third French Open final yesterday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over former champion Garbine Muguruza.
Halep, the runner-up in 2014 and 2017, will face either Sloane Stephens or Madison Keys in tomorrow’s final.
Her victory over third seed Muguruza also means she will retain the world No. 1 ranking next week.
“I am really happy that I won the match, it was very important for my mind and I gave it all I had,” said Romanian star Halep.
After racing through the first set, Halep saved three break points in a marathon ninth game of the second which lasted 13 minutes.
“I think I played one of my best matches on clay against a great opponent,” added Halep, who will be appearing in her fourth final at the majors having also been beaten in Australia in January.
“I was 2-4 down in the second set but I knew I had to fight for every ball, push her back and play the way I did in the first set.”
Halep has now defeated Muguruza in both their meetings on clay.
However, her sights now turn to the final where she is desperate to erase the memories of last year’s horror show where she surrendered a set and a 3-0 lead to lose to Jelena Ostapenko.
“I have another chance to be in the final and hope to do better than last year.”
Earlier, Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro felled Marin Cilic in a French Open clash of the titans, winning 7-6(5) 5-7 6-3 7-5 yesterday, and will now aim his heavy artillery at 10-times champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.
Del Potro has looked one of the biggest threats to Nadal’s domination this year, with his pulverising forehand dismantling everyone in his path on the Parisian clay.
Asked about facing Nadal, who he has beaten five out of 14 times but never on clay, he was drowned out by his fans.
“It’s a challenge that every player wants to have,” he said. “I don’t know if I will win, but I will take big love from you and that’s most important for me.”
Rafael Nadal battled back from a set down to beat Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in their rain-interruped French Open quarterfinal yesterday, edging closer to an 11th title in Paris.
The world No. 1 was much-improved under the sunshine on Court Philippe Chatrier after finding life difficult in damp conditions the night before, finally seeing off dogged Argentinian Schwartzman on his fourth match point. – AFP/ Reuters