THAT WINNING FEELING OF A MAJOR FOR HALEP
▶ Top seed beats Stephens in gruelling French Open final to end grand slam title wait
Simona Halep had to fight back from a set and break down against Sloane Stephens to win a tense French Open final and end her wait for a grand slam title yesterday.
Top seed Halep looked to be heading for more major final heartbreak when she trailled 3-6 and 0-2 against the American US Open champion, who had not lost in six previous finals.
However, the 26-year-old Romanian recovered to break back immediately before grinding her way to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory to win her first major in her fourth final.
Halep had twice lost in French Open finals, in 2014 and 2017, and this year’s Australian Open.
“In the last game I felt like I could not breathe anymore”, Halep said after closing out the win in two hours and three minutes.
It was the perfect way for Halep to banish the memories of her painful final defeat by Jelena Ostapenko 12 months ago, when she blew a lead of a set and 3-0.
The world No 1 played a scintillating deciding set in which she made only five unforced errors, breaking her major drought in style.
Halep celebrated her victory in a way usually seen at Wimbledon, climbing into her box to greet friends and family.
“I tried to not do the same thing as last year. It’s a dream and it’s so special to do it here in Paris,” she said. “When I was down a break in the second set I just tried to relax and enjoy the match.”
The fans at Roland Garros preceded the match with a standing ovation for seven-time grand slam champion Maria Bueno after the Brazilian’s death on Friday at the age of 78.
Halep had vocal support from the start on Court Philippe Chatrier, but Stephens was the better player in the baseline rallies and made an early breakthrough as two big forehands left the top seed scrambling.
The early exchanges were brutal in the Paris heat, but it was Halep who found herself forced on the defensive as Stephens moved 4-1 ahead.
Stephens, who was ranked No 957 in the world less than a year ago after her injury woes, was using her bigger forehand to good effect as Halep struggled to make any inroads into her opponent’s serve.
She did manage to make Stephens serve for the set, though, and was stepping into the court with more authority, bringing up her first break point.
But Halep wasted the chance and Stephens made her pay, firing an unreturnable backhand into the corner to wrap up the set after just 41 minutes.
A first-ever grand slam final defeat in straight sets for Halep looked likely as soon as Stephens claimed the first game of the second set on her fourth break point.
The Romanian knows better than anyone how grand slam finals can turn though, and she broke back to love to the delight of the crowd.
Suddenly Halep had won 12 of 13 points and snatched the momentum. She then made it four games on the spin as Stephens hit consecutive forehands into the net.
Stephens briefly looked out on her feet, but raised her game by shortening the points to break straight back before levelling the set at 4-4, helped by the first ace of the match.
But Halep dug deep, squaring the final by winning the next two games, as Stephens fired a backhand wide on the first set point.
The American had fatigued irreparably, and it was her turn to fall 2-0 down at the start of the deciding set. The match was all but ended as Halep clinched the double break in game four after some magnificent defending in one of the points of the match.
Stephens managed to land a couple of late blows, but Halep confidently served it out, sealing victory on her first match point when her opponent netted a return.
Dominic Thiem has insisted that all the pressure will be on Rafael Nadal when the pair meet in today’s French Open final.
Thiem, 24, is seeking to win his first grand slam title in his debut appearance in a major final, and the Austrian seventh seed has been in impressive form throughout the two weeks in Paris.
However, to get his hands on La Coupe des Mousquetaires, Thiem will have to defeat the most formidable player in the tournament’s history – 10-time champion Nadal.
Today’s showdown may represent Thiem’s best chance of winning a grand slam so far, but the Austrian has attempted to downplay the situation by living up to his underdog tag.
“I’ve gone a very long way now and I don’t want to lose the final, otherwise it’s not a very nice feeling,” he said. “But at the other end it’s so tough to go all the way in such a tournament and, if I’m facing Rafa, I’m not the one who has the pressure.”
Nadal, who has beaten Thiem in six of their nine meetings, will start the final as the favourite. But the Austrian is the only player to beat the Spanish top seed on clay over the past two years – in the 2017 Italian Open quarter-finals before winning their most recent meeting in the Madrid Open last-eight in May.
“He’s the big favourite against everybody and still I know how to play against him,” Thiem said.
“I have a plan and ... I will try everything for my plan to work out here, not only in Madrid or in Rome.
“If I want to beat him I have to play the way I did in Rome and in Madrid. But I’m also aware that here it’s tougher. I think he likes the conditions more here than in Madrid, for sure, and best of five is also a different story.”
Nadal is aware of the challenge posed by Thiem.
“I have a very difficult match against a player that is playing great and I know I have to play at my best if I want to have chances,” Nadal, 32, said.
“The good thing is, I played a lot of good matches this clay court season so Sunday is the day to give my best, it’s a day to increase a little bit more the level.
“Dominic is one of those players who has the chance to win every tournament that he’s playing and maybe even more here at Roland Garros because he’s strong physically, he has the power.”