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.
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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)
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