OK, now we are getting to the real deep end of the French open as it is nearly at an end and the clay court season with it for that matter. So in this post I will look at the ladies side of the net and the semi final matches and my look ahead at today's final and see who might emerge the champion of Roland Garros.
So without any further ados let's take a look at the semi finals....
LADIES SEMI FINALS
Timea Bacsinzsky vs Jelena Ostapenko
Right, so this was a very interesting match on paper between these two players, Timea and Jelena (save my typing their surnames!) as it was their first meeting and not only that the match took place on their birthdays! The contrast of styles also looked to make this a fascinating encounter as Timea is a player with power and guile to her game whereas Jelena's game is based on all-out attack.
So as for the match itself it was an excellent high quality encounter, which saw both ladies go at it on Court Philippe Chatrier and the match featured a nice mix of Timea's craft and guile using her slice to keep Jelena off balance whereas Jelena used her outright firepower to hit winners left right and centre. And the 1st match had little in it between both players, despite trading breaks of serve it went to a tiebreak, which Jelena won. In the 2nd set however, Timea fought back and broke the feisty young Latvian and went on to level the match. In the 3rd set however, Jelena resumed her lead with her incredible attacking brute force style of play and she secured her win with a break of serve to reach her first grand slam final at the tender age of 20 with an impressive 3 set win with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline.
Well, this really was a high quality match and it helped make up for the shortfall of killer matches in the ladies tournament so far and the contrast of styles in both players helped make it a great fight. However in the end it was Jelena's ability to hit outright winners that got her over her line and it was quite amusing to learn that during her on court interview afterward that Jelena hits her forehand harder than Andy Murray's!
And given Ostapenko's firepower and believe in herself its far from a stretch of the imagination to consider that she will go on to win the tournament as she certainly has a shot, which is remarkable given that she is an unseeded player going into this event.
Simona Halep vs Karolina Pliskova
As for the 2nd semi final, well this was between Simona Halep the 3rd seed and Karolina Pliskova the 2nd seed. Both of these women were already grand slam finalists going into this match as Halep had reached her first final at the French open three years ago where she lost out to Maria Sharapova, whereas Pliskova lost to Angelique Kerber in the US Open final. And this match also saw a contrast of sorts with Halep being only a mere 5ft 6 to Pliskova's 6ft 1 in height so it was a case of a female version of David and Goliath out there!
Getting onto the match itself it was another high quality match with some impressive defence from Halep throughout and some powerful hitting and big serving from Pliskova. However it was Halep that was able to make the first breakthrough as she broke Pliskova to take the opening set. In the 2nd set, Pliskova fought back as she broke Haelp to level the match at a set apiece. But in the 3rd set it was Halep's defensive skills that shone through and she ended up breaking Pliskova to reach her 2nd grand slam final at the French open with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
Well it was great to see that there were two high level matches played in the semi finals for the ladies game and the contrast of styles in players also made it refreshing. And here it was great to see Halep win through and reach her 2nd major final at the French open and this time she will have a chance to claim her first grand slam title. As for Pliskova she also did very well to reach the semi finals as she has often said that clay isn't her best surface but to reach the last four is pretty good result for someone, who hasn't a taste for playing on the red dirt.
LADIES FINAL PREVIEW AND PREDICTION
So, now we get down to the ladies final, which is set between Simona Halep and the surprise finalist, Jelena Ostapenko and this really promises to be a cracking final given again the players differences in style with Simon's defensive skills and agility and Jelena's ability to crack winners all around the court.
And this all begs the question....who is going to win??? Well this is a tough one to call because again this is the first time that both players will meet in their careers, so its hard to determine with any certainty, who will come through this. On one hand we have Simona, who at the age of 25 has had at least five years more experience on the tour than Ostapenko has, who has just turned 20 and her defensive skills and athletic ability make her a very dangerous opponent for anyone. Not only that Halep has already secured the World No.2 spot after beating Pliskova, so that would putting her closer to becoming the World No.1 if she wins.
On the other hand however, Ostapenko has been the surprise of the tournament overall on both sides of the net, being ranked at No.47 in the world, she has powered her way to her first major final, which is no mean feat in itself. And so far, Ostapenko has proven many wrong when comes to her inexperience and instead she has shown great belief in herself and in her game with her ability crunch winners off both wings.
As for how the final will go???? Well....this will all come down to both belief and whoever plays better on the day, so its pretty simple from that point of view. However it may also come down to whoever plays the more consistent with Halep she needs to be ontop of her defensive game and force Ostapeno to make errors and go for too much on the forehand or backhand. But if Ostapenko can pull off her high risk, all out attack game then she is sure to be the favourite and Halep will probably not be able to contend with her raw firepower.
So, for who will actually win......hmmmm this is a tough one to call but believe it or not I think I might go with Ostapenko on this one, although I'd rather see Halep win but I've been burned twice on experience triumphing over youth and been wrong both times. So, I think this time I will not make the same mistake and go for Ostapenko, because if she can maintain her belief that she has shown throughout the whole tournament and play her offensive game that she is sure to be the winner.
However as I said I would rather Halep won because it would be great if she could get a chance to win her first major after losing out in her first French open final, but I'm not sure if I can count out Ostapenko as she has already proven me wrong twice. So for that reason alone I have decided to go with Ostapenko winning in three sets to claim her first major title.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with my look at the men's semi finals and my look ahead to the men's final.
So, see you soon....
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