Simona Halep has reached the final of the French Open for the third time after 2014 and 2016 and finally wants to reward herself with the first major title in her fourth Grand Slam final on Saturday. The industry leader from Romania defeated the third seeded Garbine Muguruza surprisingly clearly with 6:1, 6:4 and thus also defended her top position in the world rankings against the Spaniard.
One day after her trio set success in a duel with Angelique Kerber (Kiel/No. 12) Halep again underlined her outstanding form. After 1’32”, the 26-year-old from Constanta benefited from a slight mistake made by her opponent in her first match point. Muguruza could have taken the place in the sun of Halep by winning the semi-final.
In her second consecutive Roland Garros final, Halep will face either US Open winner Sloane Stephens (No. 10) or Madison Keys in 13th place. The two American Fed Cup winners will meet on Thursday afternoon in a new edition of last year’s Flushing Meadows Final.
Halep startete on the Court Philippe Chatrier extremely concentrated and pressureful into the game. Wimbledon winner Muguruza, who had disenchanted Maria Sharapova (Russia) in two sets the day before, kept up with the number one’s high pace, but was more prone to mistakes than Halep.
In the opening game, the Spaniard made a double mistake in the Romanian’s first break and promptly lost her next two service games. Halep seemed above all sovereign in his own service. Her determination in pursuit of her major title debut can be clearly seen in the days of Paris.
Earlier this year Halep lost the Australian Open final in three sets to Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark). In her two French Open finals to date, she lost out to Elena Ostapenko (2016/Latvia) and Sharapova (2014).
Her second set ball transformed Halep symptomatically with a bravely beaten forehand winner along the line. In the second set, Muguruza, French Open Champion of 2016, made more resistance to the number one. Thanks to the 2-1 break in the second set, the third place in the world rankings took the lead for the first time in this game and obviously gained self-confidence. Her strokes had more pressure and length.
Halep, however, kept looking helplessly towards her Australian coach Darren Cahill, who many experts consider the best coach on the WTA tour. His protégé did not lose his nerve and took the break back to 4-4. On the Centre Court, the “Simona, Simona” cheers kept popping up. The power player with the Haardutt has a permanent fan base all over the world.
The preliminary decision was made when the Romanian won a game of around 14 minutes on her own serve at 4-4, defending three break points from the Wimbledon winner. A little later Halep was rewarded with the third final at the Bois de Boulogne.