Pavlyuchenkova and Krejcikova in the Paris final

The 29-year-old Pavlyuchenkova defeated the Slovenian Tamara Zidansek 7:5, 6:3 in Paris on Thursday and is now in the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, like Krejcikova. The 25-year-old defeated number 17 seed Maria Sakkari from Greece 7:5, 4:6, 9:7 in a dramatic semifinal. After 3:18 hours she used her fifth match point after fending off a match point from Sakkari.

Krejcikova and Sakkari delivered a gripping and emotional semi-final. In the first set, both players were still dealing with their nerves in their semi-final debut at a Grand Slam tournament. There were seven breaks in the first round, and in the end the Czech won the first round 7:5. But Sakkari was not shocked. In the second set, she took serve from Krejcikova, who had previously won the tournament in Strasbourg, twice early on and equalized the set at 6:4. In the third set it went back and forth. Initially the momentum was on Sakkari's side, who was a break ahead for a long time and even had a match point at 5:4. But the Czech didn't give up and stayed in the match.

The chair umpire added extra excitement. © APA/afp / MARTIN BUREAU

After fending off three match points at 7:6 and being overruled by the referee in another attempt at 8:7, she made it to the final with the fifth match point. Rejoicing and disbelieving, she stretched her arms into the Parisian sky and could hardly believe her luck. Now against a Russian Pavlyuchenkova was also overjoyed. “It wasn't easy mentally to play this game. I just tried to stay calm,” Pavlyuchenkova said after the game. She is the first Russian woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament since Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in 2015 - in her 52nd Grand Slam participation.

Zidansek, who was the first player from Slovenia to reach the semi-finals of one of the four most important tournaments, got off to a better start on Court Philippe-Chatrier and immediately took serve from the Russian. But Pavlyuchenkova remained calm and slowly found her rhythm. After 52 minutes she took the first set. From then on, the Russian, seeded number 31, was the dominant player. Zidansek was unable to build on her previous strong performances and made too many simple mistakes overall. The 23-year-old number 85 in the world came back into the game to score 3-4. Afterwards she immediately lost her service again, and a little later Pavlyuchenkova made it to the finals perfectly.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Hockey

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

Pavlyuchenkova and Krejcikova in the Paris final

The Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic will contest the surprise final at the French Open.

Suggestions

Comments (0)