The scene of the semifinals: It’s 8: 7 and 40:30 in the decisive third set in the second semi-final of the French Open, match point for Barbora Krejcikova. Maria Sakkari serves hot, Krejcikova returns with great distress. The Greek sends a baseline shot back, the naked eye on television and Krejcikova also see the ball out of bounds. The Czech throws her arms up, but then the referee gets out of his chair – and passes the ball! The game is not over yet. And not for a few match points.
Second row entertainment: None of the four women in this year’s French Open semi-finals have ever come this far in a Grand Slam tournament. There have only been four semi-final debutants in the history of the Grand Slams since professional tennis was introduced – at the 1978 Australian Open. While the men on Friday (2:50 pm, TV: Eurosport) with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as well as Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the number 1, 3, 5 and 6 seeded players will fight for the final on Sunday, the number 31 (Pavlyuchenkova) and number 17 (Sakkari) women of the world will face unseeded opponents. Nevertheless, they offered entertainment. The scenes of a historical semifinals:
Pavlyuchenkova vs. Zidansek 7: 5, 6: 3
Just not on the forehand: There was no preview of this game without reference to Tamara Zidansek’s precise and difficult to calculate forehand. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also made it clear from the first serve: She does not want to expose herself to these blows, the first balls all went into the backhand. And indeed: when Zidansek was able to use her forehand for the first time, the first winner was there, the break was made two points later.
The first sentence: This was followed by a balanced first round with long games and five breaks. Ironically, a double mistake by Zidansek ended the first set after 54 minutes 7: 5 from the point of view of Pavlyuchenkova, who had a lot of experience ahead of her 23-year-old opponent with 52 Grand Slam tournaments and seven quarter-finals. 44 Grand Slam main rounds and six quarter-finals to be precise.
Silence Please! However, Zidansek clearly won the elimination for the wildest box. The Slovenian team jumped up jubilantly every time they won a point, their fists were clenched, and coach Marjan Cuk kept encouraging the fans in the Arena Philippe-Chatrier to take the side of his protégé. Only: Zidansek herself at some point seemed decidedly too much, in the middle of the first sentence she asked for more quiet in her own seats for the first time.
The stroke of the semifinals: It was 5: 3 in the first set, the next point could bring Pavlyuchenkova the set ball against Zidansek. The Russian first sent her opponent into the corner before she put the stop behind the net. Zidansek also ran into the ball, screwed himself up for the subsequent attempt at praise a pirouette approach in figure skating – and somehow twirled the ball into the corner with a backhand while jumping.
Sugar please! Gummy bears as a snack between two games? Barbara Rittner had never seen anything like it. The Eurosport expert immediately directed warning words in the direction of Pavlyuchenkova: not a good idea, not a good role model, too much sugar! We don’t want to contradict the point about sugar at this point. Children, eat more vegetables! Pavlyuchenkova won the subsequent game anyway, powered through to the break and then to a quick 4: 1. Zidansek came back to 3: 4. But less than six minutes later (or 15 minutes after gummy bears) Pavlyuchenkova converted her first match ball. in the The Russian will face Krejcikova in the final on Saturday (3 p.m., TV: Eurosport).
Krejcikova vs. Sakkari 7:5, 4:6, 9:7
Light and shadow: Afterwards, Krejcikova and Sakkari not only struggled with the sun on the Philippe-Chartier in the second semifinals, their own performances could also be described with light and shadow. There were seven breaks in the first set alone – with the better outcome for the Czech.
Hit and scream: In the second set, the momentum was clearly with Sakkari, who had previously thrown defending champion Iga Swiatek out of the tournament with nerves. It was quickly 4: 0, but instead of taking advantage of their chances, it was suddenly only 4: 3. Now only one thing could help: scream! The 25-year-old pushed herself out of the trance into which she had lulled the eager Krejcikova with hard hits and the right shouts – and equalized after 1:54 minutes after sentences. Primal scream included. In this phase, »Sakkattack« lived up to the name she gave herself on social networks.
Is it better to win twice? While Sakkari was getting louder and stronger, the strength of her counterpart seemed to be dwindling. It has to be the literal double burden of single appearances and the games of the double competition, where the 25-year-old is also in the semifinals with Katerina Siniakova. In fact, she made mistakes that the XXL freezer bag full of crushed ice on her trembling thighs should stimulate blood circulation during breaks. And yet the Czech managed to pull off her calm, almost stoic style – and apparently always irritate Sakkari when the Greek seemed to have the upper hand again.
Furious ending: In the middle of the third set, a previously extremely close and interesting match developed into a high-class exchange of blows, in which one “fights tennis” while the other “plays tennis”, as TV expert Rittner said. Again, the advantage was initially with fighter Sakkari, who was one break ahead for a long time and had the first match point when the score was 5: 3. But this game should see a few more of them. It’s a crazy final phase in which match balls are created by net rollers and countered with aces or collected by the referee. Only about 30 minutes after the match point was blocked and a total of 3:18 hours, Krejcikova even made it into the final in her fifth Grand Slam main round. A game like that, she said afterwards, “I always wanted to play a game like that”.
