MADRID, 10 (EUROPA PRESS)
Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Czech Barbora Krejcikova will play the final of the Roland Garros tournament, the second ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, both looking for the greatest success of their careers on a WTA circuit lately open to surprises, after a Friday with four debutants in the semifinal round of a ‘big’.
Pavlyuchenkova beat (7-5, 6-3) the Slovenian Tamara Zidansek to, at 29, be the first woman to reach her first final of a ‘big’ after playing more than 50. The 12-title champion gave the back to a ‘break’ against in the first game of the match and endured a new attack from Zidansek when he clung to the sleeve.
The Slovenian, her country’s first player among the best four in a ‘Grand Slam’, also fought a battle in the second set, breaking the Russian twice, but Pavlyuchenkova took the ticket to the final. The second passport to the last step in Paris was dramatically taken by Krejcikova against the Greek Maria Sakkari (7-5, 4-6, 9-7).
The Czech scored a first open set, as would be the game, but went badly in the second set, where the Greek played aggressive and forced the tiebreaker with authority. Sakkari had match ball to the rest with 4-5, but then it was Krejcikova who began to accumulate final balls. With suspense and the chair umpire going down twice, the Czech won the fifth.
