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From Seoul, South Korea, June 2018




   Another year has passed and here we are again, a few hours before we know the 2018 finalists of Roland Garros for the women's competition. For those who remember, in 2017 the final match put face to face Romanian Simona Halep and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko. Simona was the favorite and everybody was expecting her to win. She was up one set and had three games to one in the second set, but Jelena came back and won the second set. In the third set Simona had 3 to 1 again, but again, Jelena recovered and won the third set and the championship with it. 

   For nostalgics, here is a video with the most important moments of that final:


VIDEO HERE: SIMONA HALEP-JELENA OSTAPENKO 2017 ROLAND GARROS FINAL 6-4 4-6 3-6 




   2018 and another story. Ostapenko was eliminated in the first round of the competition and most probably she will be out of Top 10 by next week. But there is Simona Halep, a model of consistency in women's tennis, who never left Top 10 since she entered there for the first time in 2014. She is now world No 1 and she is again in the semifinals of Roland Garros, hunting for her first Grand Slam trophy. 



THE 2018 SEMIFINALS: 

Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) - Simona Halep (Romania)

(they met 4 times so far, Garbiñe won 3 times)




   This meeting is especially important because it will decide who will be No 1 in the WTA rankings. Right now Simona leands the renkings with 7270 points and Garbiñe comes in 3rd place with 6010 points. If Garbiñe wins, she will be the new number one. 


Current rankings, top 5:





    Muguruza and Halep met 4 times until now, with Muguruza winning 3 of those encounters, but all three were on a hard court. There was a single clay meeting in 2015 in Sttutgart which Halep had won. This year in Doha Halep should have played the semifinal against Muguruza, but she had to retire due to injury. 


Direct meetings score:  Muguruza - Halep 3-1



Road to the semifinals:


   In this tournament so far, Muguruza has met Kuznetsova, Ferro, Stosur, Tsurenko - who are all ranked lower than Top 32, and in the quarter-finals beat rank no 28 Maria Sharapova. Muguruza beat all these players in only two sets, and almost did not play with Tsurenko who has retired after playing just 2 games. Halep played Riske, Townsend, Petkovic, rank no 16 Mertens, and rank no 12 and former no 1 Kerber. She played 3 sets against Riske and Kerber. So Halep has met stronger players than Muguruza did, however, Muguruza is known for playing extremely good especially in Grand Slam tournaments. 


Quarter-final Halep - Kerber 6(2)-7(7), 6-3, 6-2:


SEE THE HIGHLIGHTS HERE (VIDEO)


   Those who watched the Australian Open last January remember for sure the epic confrontation between Halep and Kerber, where both played extremely well, but Halep was able to win in the end and advance to the final (see link at the end of this post for the Australian Open semifinal between Halep and Kerber). Here at Roland Garros, Kerber started the first set very well. She was leading 4 to 0 when Halep started playing better and better. She managed to comeback and bring the score to 6-4 but it was not enough because Kerber was doing almost a perfect game. Halep lost the first set in tiebreak, but the fact that she was able to come back from 4-0 gave her a psychological advantage. Kerber did a perfect defense, but Halep committed very little errors - that is something rare for her - and brought Kerber to exhaustion. Simona showed she grew a lot mentally and she looks ready to win a Grand Slam. 





 

Quarter-final Muguruza - Sharapova 6-2, 6-1


SEE THE HIGHLIGHTS HERE (VIDEO)


   Sharapova has played great this year on clay, and looked like she is back in the game. Fans were expecting a lot from her in this quarter-final, even thinking that maybe she can win the competition. But with Muguruza she failed to make her serve and this marked the end of her road at Roland Garros. However, she is raising in the rankings, which is definitely great for her career after the drug use suspension. 








THE 2018 SEMIFINALS: 

Madison Keys (USA) - Sloane Stephens (USA)

(they met 2 times so far, Stephen won both meetings)




   Stephens and keys are both in Top 20 and their ranking will improve for sure after this tournament ends. 



   

Direct meetings score:  Stephens - Keys 2-0


   The two players met only two times until now, the most important meeting being the 2017 US Open final when Stephen won the title (see the link at the end of this post). What is sure is that one American will be in the final!



Road to the semifinals:


   Stephens eliminated Rus, Frech, Giorgi, ranking no 25 Kontaveit (who had previously eliminated Kvitova), and ranking no 14 Daria Kasatkina (who had previously eliminated Caroline Wozniacki, the current world No 2 and the Australian Open champion). Keys defeated Vickery, Dolehide, Indian Wells champion and rank no 21 osaka, rank no 31 Buzarnescu (who had previously eliminated rank no 4 Svitolina), and Putintseva.


********



GRAND SLAM FLASHBACK


US OPEN 2017 Final: Madison Keys - Sloane Stephens 3-6, 0-6 (WATCH HERE)





AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017 Semifinal: S. Halep-A. Kerber 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 (WATCH HERE)



wtatennis.com


:
Posted by me-wanderer

From Seoul, South Korea, June 2018



Roland Garros (French Open), Paris









ABOUT:



  The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The venue is named after the French aviator Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments, the other three being the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The French Open is currently the only Grand Slam event held on clay, and it is the zenith of the spring clay court season. Because of the seven rounds needed for a championship, the slow-playing surface and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches (without a tiebreak in the final set), the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.

  Ten-time French Open winner, Rafael Nadal, is the defending champion in the Men's Singles. Jeļena Ostapenko was the defending champion in the Women's Singles but lost in the first round to Kateryna Kozlova.



Male (left) and female (right)'s trophies








THE SEEDS:


  The players who already left the competion at he date this post was published are the ones highlighted with pink. Last year's champion, Jelena Ostapenko, lost in the first round and lost her points, which will put hr out of the WTA Top 10. 2017 runner-up Simona Halep is sill in the competition and being the current No 1 is also considered the favorite in the race to win the trophy. 






Point system:


Winner - 2000

Runner up - 1300

Semifinalists - 780

Quarterfinalists - 430

Round of 16 - 240

Round of 32 - 130

Round of 64 - 70

Round of 128 - 10



GALLERY OF THE CHAMPIONS:



2017 winner: Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia






2016 winner: Garbine Muguruza, Spain





2015 winner: Serena Williams, USA





2014 winner: Maria Sharapova, Russia 





wtatennis.com

wikipedia.org

:
Posted by me-wanderer


From Seoul, South Korea, October 2017


안녕 folks!


     



Simona Halep's way to her first WTA number 1 ranking was halted several times in the months before China Open (30 Sept- 8 Oct, 2017). The Roland Garros final loss to Jelena Ostapenko and the elimination from US Open by Maria Sharapova in the first round, were not easy to deal with psychologically. 










In an interview for a Romanian TV channel she stated the Roland Garros final haunted her dreams for days after the game. Aggressive player Ostapenko is not an easy opponent these days in the WTA tournaments. 






On the other side, Halep lost all her previous games to Sharapova, seven in number, a situation that led some to say she had developed a Sharapova complex. However, Halep denied such a thing, still admitting that it was one of her biggest wishes to beat the Russian.



<Previous meetings, before Beijing 2017>




     China Open will remain a tournament to remember for Simona Halep. 



<Petra Kvitova, Caroline Garcia, Jelena Ostapenko, Simona Halep>



She obtained her first victory in two sets against the 'unbeatable Russian': 6-2, 6-2.



     

     


     



She took revenge for the Roland Garros final, becoming WTA No 1, after the semifinal against Ostapenko: 6-2, 6-4.






Yet Simona is getting a lot of criticism from fans all over the world who say that a No 1 without a Grand Slam is not a real No 1. Regarding this, only time will tell the truth. 









Sources:


TVR1 interview with Simona Halep, in Romanian:




Pictures:

https://www.facebook.com/WTA/?ref=br_rs

http://www.wtatennis.com/



Watch:


2017 China Open 3rd Round against Maria Sharapova, highlights:

https://youtu.be/3oYXBWw_RR8




2017 China Open semi-final against Jelena Ostapenko, highlights:

https://youtu.be/gUt8s9lIVRk



:
Posted by me-wanderer