Halep & Ostapenko to ‘clash’ for crown
2017 champ will be 1st-time major winner
PARIS, June 8, (AFP): Simona Halep reached her second French Open final on Thursday with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Karolina Pliskova, taking her to within touching distance of a first Grand Slam title and the world number one spot.
Romanian third seed Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, will face unseeded Latvian 20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko, who downed Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3, in Saturday’s final.
The 2017 champion will be a firsttime major winner while victory will also crown Halep as the new world number one, replacing Angelique Kerber.
“It’s an amazing feeling right now,” said Halep after her fifth win in six meetings against Pliskova, the world number three.
“It was extremely tough today as Karolina is a very tough opponent.
“To be in the final again is great. I hope to win this time.
“But I am facing a young opponent, it will be a big challenge.”
Pliskova ended the tie with 45 winners and a staggering 55 unforced errors.
In contrast, Halep registered 14 in both columns. Romania’s Simona Halep returns the ball to Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova during their semifinal tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on June 8, in Paris. (AFP)
India’s Rohan Bopanna (right), and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski pose with their trophy after winning their mixed doubles tennis match against Colombia’s Robert Farah and Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open
on June 8, in Paris. (AFP)
fair reward for her stalwart defence.
She was hauled back in the seventh game but Pliskova, her error count racing past the 50-mark, handed it back, allowing Halep to serve for the match.
Halep sealed the deal when Pliskova went long off a service return.
The 25-year-old Czech would have taken the world top spot if she had made her second Slam final.
In the end, she could at least reflect on progress in Paris -- before this year, she had never got beyond the second round in five attempts.