Friday 3 June 2016

2016 French Open Part 2: Ladies' event - Semi finals and final preview

OK well I've neglected to cover the ladies event so far which I apologise for so to make up for that a bit I will dedicate this post to the ladies semi finals and make a quick mention of the other top seeds that went out along the way.

Oh and I decided to revamp the look of this blog so its be changed up to another template, which is still maybe a bit bland but I think its not too bad.

Anyway I digress, so let's get a move on and take a look....

LADIES TOURNAMET RECAP 

Right so to quickly recap the ladies event had quite a few upsets in the first week that saw many of the top seeds drop out such as Petra Kvitova who went out in the 3rd round go out in a shock exit to an American qualifier, Shelby Rogers.  Ana Ivanovic, the former champion, also went out in the 3rd
round to Elina Svitolina in straight sets.  And Angelique Kerber, the reigning Australian open champion was the first heavy casualty of the tournament as she was beaten by Kiki Bertens in three sets.

As for other upsets, Simona Halep, the former finalist two years ago also went out in the 4th round as she lost to Sam Stosur (also a former finalist) in straight sets following a day's delay of play due to rain, which has threatened the tournament quite alot this year.  And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska turned out to be another top seed casualty as despite leading a set and 3-0 in her match against Tvsetana Pironkova, their match was halted by the rain delays too and on the following day, Pironkova stunned the No.2 seed and went on to win the match in three sets.

SEMI FINAL MATCH - Muguruza vs Stosur 

Now onto the semi final matches and I will start with the semi final between Sam Stosur and Garbine Muguruza, which promised to be quite an interesting one.  However Garbine proved to be the stronger player and showed her confidence when she took the first set with a double break and she then went on to nab the second set with a single break, which let her reach her first ever French Open final with a commanding 6-2, 6-4 victory.

This was quite a victory for Garbine as she already has the experience of being in a slam final as she was a finalist at Wimbledon last year so the fact that she has been able to repeat this is quite impressive and it shows that she is sure to win a slam in the future if not this one.

SEMI FINAL MATCH - Williams vs Bertens 

And the second semi final was between Serena Williams, the defending champion and the unseeded Kiki Bertens, who has made a killer run into the last four.  Bertens however went into the match with a calf injury but it didn't really appear to effect her progress as she managed to break Serena in the first set and had a chance to serve it out at 5-4.  However Serena being Serena, broke Bertens back and play went by serve into a tense tiebreak which Serena eventually won 9-7.  In the 2nd set, Serena broke Bertens to take the lead but Bertens held on, making Serena serve it out, which she did as Berten's sent a shot long that ended their contest and saw Serena reach another French Open final with a hard fought 7-6, 6-4 win.

FINAL ANALYSIS 

So this sets up the ladies final which will see Serena Williams take on the young, plucky Garbine Muguruza and it promises to be quite a match.  In fact Muguruza has already enjoyed victory over Serena at the French open as she defeated her two years ago in the 2nd round but this being a grand slam final is a slightly different matter altogether of course!

Garbine has already faced Serena in a slam final too as she reached the Wimbledon final last year where she lost in straight sets however on clay, Garbine will be a dangerous proposition for Serena.  And for me I think Garbine has a chance here to claim her first major title as Serena has show signs of vulnerability in her last two grand slams as she lost out to Roberta Vinci at the US Open semi final last year and this year she lost to Angelique Kerber.  And given Muguruza's pedigree on clay I think its not within the realms of possibility that she will come through this one and get the win.

However we are of course talking about Serena Williams who is 21 time major champion and she is now just one slam away from equalling Stefi Graff's record and even if she wasn't to win this one then she can certainly go on to win another slam to equal that record.  So this is another big chance for Serena to grab that record equalling 22nd major and she just might end up getting it.

FINAL PREDICTION 

So as for my prediction.....well I'm actually going to go with Muguruza as she has been playing with alot of confidence throughout this tournament and there is still room for doubt where Serena is concerned.  It is however insane to dimiss Serena's chances of course but just looking at Muguruza in this tournament she really has come through very impressively and I think she is destined to win the French open if not this year then very soon.  So I think Muguruza will win this one in three sets to claim her first major title on her most preferred surface (but of course I might be wrong!).

Anyway so I will be back soon with my update on the men's semi finals and how they went.

Until the next one bye for now and see you soon..... 

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