Sloane Stephens rolled past fellow American Madison Keys 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open semifinals on Thursday, setting up a championship match Saturday against world No. 1 Simona Halep.
Stephens, the defending US Open champion, dissected Keys as she had in New York to reach her first Roland Garros final and second grand slam championship match in the last year.
She did so in part due to 39 unforced errors from Keys, who never found her footing and did not break Stephens’ serve until late in the second set. A risk-averse Stephens, meanwhile, tallied just eight winners and recorded no aces but won 78 percent of first serve points and committed just 11 unforced errors.
“I love playing here. Making the quarterfinals here was a big deal for me. I was really pleased,” Stephens said. “And obviously making the semis and finals, there is not much more you can ask for in a player. And I think that I have done really well.”
Stephens displayed straightforward control in each set. She fought back from 40-0 down at 1-1 in the first set, pinpointing an inside-out forehand on the line on break point. Keys, who scattered errors from the earliest stages of the match, had two break points later in the set but saw Stephens, the No. 10 seed, slam the door shut.
In fitting fashion, Keys deposited a forehand into the net on Stephens’ first set point.
The second set started similarly poorly for Keys, seeded 14th. She dug out of a 15-40 hole and endured a marathon game, but eventually blasted a volley into the bottom of the net to hand Stephens an early lead. Stephens, who will be ranked No. 4 next week, held firm and broke again to take a 5-2 lead as Keys sprayed more frequent errors.
Keys, who like her compatriot had reached her first Roland Garros semifinal, then played her best tennis of the match, recovering one break and crisply holding serve before Stephens closed the proceedings with a straightforward hold.
The match often resembled last year’s final in New York, as Stephens took control early and never relinquished her edge. Keys won more than twice as many games on Friday as she had at the US Open, but once again came to the net to congratulate her friend on a major victory.
Stephens, who had reached the second week of Roland Garros four times but never found this degree of success, will face an uphill battle against the world No. 1. The American has never won a title on clay and has lost both clay-court meetings against Halep.
“She’s No. 1 in the world. There is a reason why she’s in the finals,” Stephens said. “No one is going to hand you the match. It’s a Grand Slam final. You have to go out there and get after it and make sure you play every point and try to execute your game plan as best as possible.”
