Halep eyes title vs Stephens; Thiem ends C’nato fairytale

PARIS – Romanian Simona Halep said the only thing she intends to change in her fourth Grand Slam final appearance is the result.

The 26-year-old world number one outplayed Garbine Muguruza in the French Open semifinal on Thursday, winning 6-1 6-4 to put herself back within touching distance of finally lifting one of the sport’s biggest prizes.

She has been there before of course and always fallen just short – most notably last year at Roland Garros when she was a set and 3-0 to the good against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko before being overwhelmed by an onslaught of winners.

As she did last year she will start as favorite against Sloane Stephens, who turned back fellow American Madison Keys, 6-4, 6-4, in the other semis clash.

In men’s action, Dominic Thiem ended Marco Cecchinato’s French Open fairytale on Friday, reaching his first Grand Slam final with a 7-5, 7-6 (12/10), 6-1 victory.

Seventh seed Thiem is the first Austrian to make a final at the majors since Thomas Muster was champion in Paris in 1995.

Thiem will face either 10-time champion, and world number one, Rafael Nadal or Juan Martin del Potro, the fifth-seeded Argentine, in Sunday’s final.

World 72 Cecchinato had knocked out three seeded players to reach the semifinals, including 12-time major winner Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Thiem, 24, has a losing record against both Nadal (3-6) and Del Potro (0-4) but he is the only man to have defeated the Spaniard on clay in the last two years.

He believes he has a particularly powerful weapon on his side – breakfast.