Halep digs deep to get out of jail

– Simona Halep (above) saved a match point and fought back from a set and 5-1 down to defeat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0 yesterday to reach her second French Open semifinal.

The third-seeded Romanian, who was runner-up to Maria Sharapova in Paris in 2014, will face Karolina Pliskova, the Czech second seed, for a place in Saturday’s final.

Both women also have a chance of taking the world No 1.

“I don’t know how I came back,” admitted 25-year-old Halep, who ran away with 12 of the last 13 games to avenge her loss to Svitolina in the Rome final.

Fifth seed Svitolina had looked well-set to become the first Ukrainian woman to make a Grand Slam semifinal.

She allowed Halep just four winners in the first set and coasted into a 5-1 lead in the second.

Twice she served for victory at 5-2 and 5-4 before going on to waste a match point at 6/5 in the tie-breaker.

Halep needed no second invitation, sprinting through the final set in just 20 minutes before taking victory with an ace.

“She was playing tough, hard and strong,” said Halep.

“Maybe I was a little lucky but I didn’t give up.”

Pliskova reached the semifinals for the first time with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over home hope Caroline Garcia.

The 25-year-old Czech entered this year’s Roland Garros with just two wins in five previous visits.