By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, June 4, 2015
"It's a dream come true — I still cannot believe it," said Lucie Safarova after defeating Ana Ivanovic, 7-5, 7-5, to reach her first French Open final.
Photo credit: Philippe Montigny/FFT
Match point had come and gone in an excruciating three double-fault game and the walls of the largest Grand Slam stage in the sport seemed to be closing in on Lucie Safarova.
Exhaling deeply, Safarova cut through the clutter of nerves with a pattern of clarity for one final decisive push.
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Curling her slice serve to create open space, Safarova slashed a final forehand winner to wrap up a wild 7-5, 7-5, victory over Ana Ivanovic and advance to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.
"It's a dream come true — I still cannot believe it," Safarova said in her on-court interview. "I started today a little slowly but I tried to keep up the level and tried to play aggressive, as that was the only way to get the win."
The 28-year-old Czech will play either world No. 1 Serena Williams or 23rd-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in Saturday's final.
Safarova has now defused two hard-hitting former French Open champions — defending champion Maria Sharapova in the fourth round and 2008 title winner Ivanovic today — without surrendering a set advancing to her first major final in her 11th appearance in Paris.
The 13th-seeded Safavora withstood a wild ride through an emotionally turbulent semifinal on the hottest day of the tournament to reach the red clay promised land.
The last time Ivanovic beat Safarova on a clay court was in 2008 second round en route to the Roland Garros title.
Showing no trace of nerves at the outset, Ivanovic played near pristine power tennis, pounding out a pair of aces to seize a 4-1 lead.
Stepping up to serve for the set, Ivanovic swiped a layer of clay off the line with the toe of her shoe. She couldn't create separation from Safarova. Ivanovic hit a bold serve, a stretching Safarova angled an even better return. That edgy return set up a high forehand winner as Safrova broke for the first time all day for 4-5.
A mini moment of truth came at 30-all in the next game. Safarova, who had slid her serve down the middle effectively, caught the Serbian leaning the wrong way and sliced an ace wide holding for 5-all.
Tugging down on her visor, a rattled Ivanovic looked as lost as a woman watching her rental car roll away with rackets still trapped in the trunk. Under pressure, Ivanovic's service toss can veer wildly to the right, forcing her to stretch for the ball and reducing the serve to a predictble slice, or worse. A double fault followed by a netted forehand put Ivanovic in a dire double break point hole. Safarova crunched a forehand return, scoring her second straight service break for 6-5.
The Czech changed up her serving patterns and cranked her forehand fearlessly at critical stages leaving the Serbian looking spooked as she floated a forehand return beyond the baseline on set point. By the time the red dust settled, Safarova won 19 of the last 24 points during a dynamic five-game streak to snatch an opening set that seemed so firmly in Ivanovic's grasp.
Ivanovic sliced an ace holding to open the second set and stop a five-game slide. Then she went to work on Safarova's serve earning a couple of break points.
The former world No. 1's flat forehand is her best weapon and most dangerous when she's striking it from left of the center stripe. The concise backswing on Safarova's forehand creates deception and the spin she generates provides precision. Sometimes, Safarova seemed to hold the ball on her strings for a split second before hooking the lefty forehand crosscourt into Ivanovic's weaker backhand wing, other times she slashed the inside out forehand leaving her opponent flat-footed. Safarova's versatility and accuracy off the forehand unsettled the seventh seed.
A four-ace game helped Safarova fight through that double break-point game. Ivanovic flailed a forehand to donate the break at 15. When Safarova threw down a love hold it was 3-1.
Serving for the final at 5-4, Safarova double faulted on match point prompting a collective grown from the crowd. As the 10th game degenerated into jittery mess of misses both women looked nearly paralyzed by nerves at different times. On the fourth break point, Safarova smacked a backhand into the top of the tape and watched with dread as the ball plopped wide gifting Ivanovic the break for 5-all.
At the end of the game a frustrated Safarova turned her back to the net, hunched over and shoveled her racket into the dirt as if trying to bury demons of self-doubt. A forehand winner gave Safarova break point and when Ivanovic bashed a wild forehand wide, Safarova broke back earning another shot to serve it out.
This time, she didn't blink. Firing her 18th forehand winner, Safarova crashed to the court in joy. She arose, her shoulders streaked with red clay, wearing the signs of her work caked across the back with a smile plastered across her face. Overcoming her emotions when it matters most, Safarova thoroughly enjoyed unleashing them in the end.