It is crunch time in Roland Garros with the four remaining women battling it out for a place in the final of the French Open.
Timea Bacsinszky and Jelena Ostapenko have never reached the final of a grand slam before, but one of them is guaranteed to do so. Bacsinszky has the experience of already playing in a major semi-final and is a former top-10 player. On the other hand, former Wimbledon junior champion Ostapenko is in top form after producing back-to-back wins over Sam Stosur and Caroline Wozniacki.
In the other match, Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep will not just be bidding to reach the final, they will be bidding to become the new world No.1. If Pliskova wins she will dethrone Angelique Kerber from the top. Meanwhile, Halep is required to win the tournament to clinch the No.1 spot. In previous matches Halep has triumphed against the Czech, winning four out of their five previous meetings on the tour.
Timea Bacsinszky vs. Jelena Ostapenko
This will be a unique semifinal in a few ways. Both women will celebrate their birthdays on Thursday, with Bacsinszky turning 28 while Ostapenko turns 20. It’s also a major semifinal between two players who have never faced each other before. Ostapenko made her career breakthrough at this tournament, having previously never been passed the third round at a major. Meanwhile no woman has been more consistently successful in Paris over the past three years than Bacsinszky, who has reached the quarterfinals or better for the third straight year. Timea showed no signs of making another run to the French open semifinals as she struggled earlier this year. Will Bacsinszky’s experience win the day, or will Ostapenko continue to show no signs of nerves and hit a high number of winners? Bacsinszky’s game may test Ostapenko more than Wozniacki’s, as Timea has a much broader range of shots and spins. This is certainly not a semifinal with two big names, but it should be a fascinating one to watch to see which player will seize this huge opportunity.
Karolina Pliskova vs. Simona Halep
After all the talk of how open the women’s draw was, we actually have the top two seeds in the bottom half in the semifinals. Halep came roaring back from the brink of defeat on Wednesday. She was down 6-3, 5-1 against Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals and saved a match point in the second set tiebreak before winning the final set 6-0. It was a very good match, with each woman trading turns elevating their play. Halep will certainly gain a lot of confidence from the way she fought back and stole the victory away. Pliskova came into Paris with very low expectations. Even though she’s the #2 seed, she has never played very well on clay. But the U.S. Open finalist has taken advantage of an open draw and gained confidence on her least favorite surface. Still, Halep must be favored to advance to her second French Open final. The Romanian holds a 4-1 record against Pliskova, and none of those matches were on clay where Halep is much more comfortable than Pliskova. Karolina will need to go for broke with her big ground strokes to give herself a chance.uuuuuuuuuuuuuu
