Those who did bother to turn up on Friday were left wondering if the “real Serena Williams” would turn up as she appeared to move in super-slow motion between the points, surrendered her opening service games in both sets and sprayed 31 unforced errors long and wide. Serena has still dropped just one set this tournament and will now play her fourth match in as many days.
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And it was another ponderous start from the three-time former victor against her 58th-ranked opponent, losing the first three points of the match and dropping her serve.
How special it would be for second-seed Murray to win the French Open, on the red clay he struggled on several short years ago. Stosur, 32, is a decade older than Muguruza.
While Serena Williams was made to labor for her French Open semifinal win against unseeded Kiki Bertens, Garbine Muguruza unfurled all the weapons that could one day take her to the top of women’s tennis when 34-year-old Williams finally makes way.
It’s also a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final, which Williams won in straight sets.
The No. 13 seed staved off a break point in the fourth game to prevent Djokovic from going 4-0 up, and saved another when serving at 4-1.
Bertens smacked big forehands, creating outright winners or forcing Williams into mistakes, and broke in the very first game on the way to a 3-1 lead.
Muguruza reached her second Grand Slam final by beating Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4.
She now faces Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s final, having beaten the Spaniard in the 2015 Wimbledon showdown.
“She doesn’t do well all the time because she’s human but most of the time she’s one of the best in the world to deal with pressure because she has the highest pressure of all players every single day of her life”.
While Williams grimaced, groaned and growled louder and louder with each passing minute of the contest, Bertens looked like she was having plenty of fun despite failing to win the points that mattered.
Her 12-match winning run will see her climb inside the top 30 and should mean she is seeded for Wimbledon.
But she broke straight back and conceded just two further games, closing out the match 6-4 on her fifth match point, when Bertens hit a forehand long, to reach Saturday’s final.
The reigning Roland Garros champion carries a 21-5 Grand Slam finals record into her fourth French Open final.
However she recovered to eventually take the first set 7-6 on a tiebreak that she edged 9-7, settling into a more comfortable rhythm in the second set, which she won 6-4. She also said her stunning loss to Muguruza here two years ago the second round helped her learn “a ton”. Having forced the tie-break, Williams then overcame a bad miss at the net to narrowly edge one set ahead.
In the other side of the draw, Muguruza became the first Spanish woman to make the final in Paris since her Fed Cup captain, Conchita Martinez, in 2000.
Muguruza, looking to become the first Spaniard to lift the trophy since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1998, said: “Obviously it was a hard moment and I really wanted to win so it was a combination of her playing very well and me being a little bit nervous”.
A poor volley cost Williams on her first set point but, after saving another Bertens chance, she took her second opportunity with a big serve and forehand into the open court.
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Instead of being played one after the other on the main Court Philippe Chatrier, they’re now playing at the same time.
