BARBORA Krejcikova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova have set up a huge Roland Garros final this week following victories during the semis, coming in hot during their successful Grand Slam campaigns with a shot at a maiden major title edging ever closer.

Unseeded Czech Krejcikova was forced to battle hard in a huge clash with 17th seed Greek Maria Sakkari, taking out the tight first set before Sakkari broke back to win the second. She was then forced to save a match point to claim the eventual 7-5 4-6 9-7 encounter, requiring a whopping three hours and 18 minutes to do so – the longest ever women’s semi final at the Roland Garros.

“I think the match was really up and down,” Krejcikova said. “I just told myself, ‘Just fight, fight, fight until the last point’. I’m happy that I was really fighting.”

“I cannot believe it’s actually happening,” Krejcikova said. “I cannot believe it.”

Whilst the two competitors had similar winner (31-27 the way of Krejcikova) and unforced error counts (58-53), the stats proved just how closely fought the matchup was with the Czech only marginally leading off her own service games given Sakkari’s quicker serve, and overall winning 126 total points to Sakkari’s 118.

“I always wanted to play matches like this,” Krejcikova said. “I always wanted to play tournaments like this, big tournaments, big opponents, last rounds. It was always something that I wanted to achieve. It was just taking so long.

“It just took me some time, but I think right now it’s actually right moment. Especially mentally I think I’m just there. I really matured. I just really appreciate things a lot, especially after what I’ve gone through.”

While Sakkari is proud of her run to the semi-finals, which included a milestone becoming the first Greek woman to ever reach a grand slam semi, she was disappointed that she “got stressed” when serving for the match on two separate occasions.

“I have to be deadly honest: I got stressed, starting thinking that I’m a point away from being in the final,” Sakkari said. “I guess it’s a rookie mistake. Good thing is that if I give myself a chance again to be in that position, then I know that I don’t have to do it again.”

“I’m proud of my run here, but it hurts,” she said. “Today’s loss hurts a lot because I was so close. I was just one point away. “But what can you do? “There are lots of positives and some negatives, as well. I just have to embrace it and just move forward and see how am I going to do it the next time.”

Krejcikova also defeated Kristyna Pliskova, 32nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, fifth seed Elina Svitolina, Sloane Stephens and 24th seed Coco Gauff – in that order – on her way to the semi-final.

Pavlyuchenkova had a similarly tough run to the final, coming up against a couple of top seeds and showcasing just how impressive her last week has been. Christina McHale, Ajla Tomljanovic, third seed Aryna Sabalenka, 15th seed Victoria Azarenka and 21st seed Elena Rybakina, before taking on Slovenian Tamara Zidansek for her first chance at a grand slam major – which came after just one hour and 34 minutes.

“It’s been a long road. It’s been a lot of ups and downs. It’s been a tough one,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “I definitely didn’t expect this year being in the final. I guess you can’t expect those things.

“I was just there working hard, doing everything possible. I just said to myself, ‘You know what, this year let’s do whatever it takes, anything you can do to improve your game, your mentality’.”

The Russian raced ahead to an early break 5-3 before her Slovenian opposition bit back, taking the first set to a decider before Pavlyuchenkova claimed the momentum clinching the first set 7-5 and raced away to complete the 6-3 second set.

“Like this something I’ve been thinking about every single time. I think as tennis players, that’s the only goal I think we have in the head. That’s why we playing tennis,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “That’s for us the biggest achievement you can get. That’s what you’re playing for… I think about it all the time. Like been thinking about it since I was a junior, since I was a little kid, since I started playing tennis… It’s been there in my head forever.”

Zidansek will debut in the top 50 following her excellent run to the semi-finals, and left nothing to chance in what ended up being her final encounter for the week.

“I’ve learned that sometimes when I was younger, I was always looking at big players, ‘Wow, they’re hitting so good’. Maybe I want to have a shot like that or something,” Zidansek said.

“But I think I showed myself and I’ve learned that at this stage it really is, I’m going to say, 90 per cent a mental game, just about going out there and believing in yourself, believing in your game. At the end being able to go out there and show your best game.”

ROLAND GARROS SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) defeated [17] Maria Sakkari (GRE) 7-5 4-6 9-7
[31] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated Tamara Zidansek (SLO) 7-5 6-3

Picture credit: Corinne Dubreuil/FFT