Halep to take on Ostapenko in final
PARIS: Romanian Simona Halep showed the full extent of her defensive skills to beat Karolina Pliskova 64, 36, 63 and reach her second French Open final yesterday.
The third seed, who will become world No 1 if she defeats Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in tomorrow’s showdown, benefited from her opponent’s unforced errors in the first set before Pliskova rediscovered her touch.
Overwhelmed by Pliskova’s power in the second set, Halep regained the momentum in the decider, frustrating her secondseeded opponent with her ability to soak up punishment.
She ended the contest on her first match point with an unreturnable serve to reach her second Roland Garros final after losing the first one to Maria Sharapova in 2014.
Ripping a screaming forehand straight from the tennis textbook, Ostapenko blazed into the final with a 76 (74), 36, 63 win over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in a battle of the birthday girls.
On the day she turned 20, the freeswinging world No 47 launched a fusillade of 50 winners to become the first unseeded player to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros since Mima Jausovec lost to Chris Evert in 1983.
Mixed in with her scintillating winners, including forehands faster than anything men’s world No 1 Andy Murray has managed in Paris so far, were 45 unforced errors.
At times during a match of 16 service breaks, the impetuosity of youth betrayed her as she seemed on the verge of youthful tantrums in the hot sunshine, especially when she lost four games in a row to lose the second set.
Bacsinszky, the 30th seed, who needed a bandage applied to her right thigh midway through the first set, looked the more likely winner at that point as she sought to celebrate her 28th birthday by surpassing her semifinal run of 2015.
Logic suggested the steady approach she adopted after losing the firstset tiebreak would get the job done for the experienced Swiss, not the whiteknuckle rollercoaster tennis Ostapenko was playing.
But Ostapenko played fearlessly in the decider and roared home from 33, swishing away a forehand to finish an absorbing contest and become the first Latvian to reach a major final.
Should she beat Halep, it would be her first WTA title — emulating the feat of Brazilian great Gustavo Kuerten who also announced himself to the world by opening his account at Roland Garros in 1997.
‘‘I’m really happy; I love to be here,’’ Ostapenko said after the crowd serenaded her with a chorus of Happy Birthday.
‘‘It’s a great way to celebrate my birthday.
‘‘I was always playing aggressive and trying to hit the ball when I have the chance.’’ — AAP