The final will be the fourth match in four days for Williams due to the bad weather that has dogged Roland Garros this week. While Williams will have an advantage when it comes to muscling the ball, she has an even greater edge in the “touch” game.
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Williams is a win away from matching Steffi Graf’s 22 grand slam titles in the Open Era and Djokovic needs one victory to become the eighth man to tally all four majors. When they returned, Djokovic won the next three games and the match. A core question will she be healthy enough to create running rallies and can she play the sharp angles required to back Muguruza off the baseline?
Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur will both be looking to chalk up wins for the over-30s brigade in Friday’s French Open semi-finals.
Stosur, at 32 would contest her second French Open final after 2010 if she gets the better of rising Spanish player Garbine Muguruza.
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 unleashed her explosive groundstrokes all over Suzanne Lenglen Court as she thumped the Queenslander – who felt she was in the form of her life this week – in straight sets 6-2 6-4.
No, it wasn’t Fred Perry back then but Bunny Austin. She trailed 2-4 at one point in the first set and had to come from behind after also trailing in the quarterfinals before beating Yulia Putintseva. She denied it Thursday but admitted it Friday after television analysts broke the news. I kept missing, you know, just misfiring.
There is no rest for the tired at this wet-as-can-be French Open. This year it’s happening late.
“Absolutely. Look, I do think she’s got a very good chance to win tomorrow”, Stosur said of Muguruza”.
By the end of the first set, that tally stood at 24-2.
Wimbledon 2015 was Williams’s 21st major title and her last.
“Well, obviously she has a big serve and a big forehand”.
“The most disappointing part is just not playing well”, Williams said.
“Sometimes Serena doesn’t look like she wants to be out there”.
Twitter went into overdrive with comments such as: “It’s an absolute disgrace to see a women’s semi-final at a grand slam tournament take place in front of so few people” or “women’s semi-final played out in half empty stadium”.
Williams saved two set points defeating Kiki Bertens in the semifinals. It was a similar story that unfolded Friday.
Williams dropped serve on a double fault in the next game and soon found herself serving at 4-4. A fleeting set point was squandered on the Williams serve at 5-3, with Bertens snatching at a forehand that crashed into the net.
Williams, stunned at the US Open in September by Roberta Vinci and surprised in January’s Australian Open final by Angelique Kerber, eventually won 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Williams closed out the tiebreak, and despite Bertens’ early 2-0 lead in the second set, one sensed this one was over.
After a rain-ravaged tournament saw only two hours of play on Monday and Tuesday, Roland Garros organisers have been battling to get back on schedule. It remains to be seen whether some of the nine-time French Open winner’s magic will rub off on his compatriot Saturday.
Her post-match comments matched her perplexing performance.
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“I think that finals have to be played by the best players, and the best player is Serena, which is a good thing”. Williams’ legs might be stronger, but Muguruza’s are younger, and longer – they cover more court, faster. His powerful, heavy shots pack a punch.
