Stephens, Halep will play for title
PARIS – When 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 6year-old screaming kids,” Murray recalled. “So to be here from there, I think, 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 the French Open since 2002. It also was a rematch of the U.S. 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 Sharapova 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.”
In men’s play, Rafael Nadal reached the semifinals for the 11th time.
The top-ranked Spaniard completed a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Diego Schwartzman over two days after their quarterfinal was halted by rain.
Nadal is only the third male player in the Open Era to reach 11 semifinals at a single Grand Slam, alongside Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors.