By Chris Oddo | Wednesdsay June 6, 2018
The semifinals are set on the women’s side and fans should be excited. On the top half we get a blockbuster battle for No.1 between a player gunning for her third major title and one that has been to three Slam finals and never come through. In the bottom half we get an all-American rematch of the U.S. Open final between Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys, the two talents proving that American tennis—on the women’s side at least—will be in good hands in the years to come.
So let’s take a look at the matchups:
[1] Simona Halep vs. [3] Garbiñe Muguruza
Head to Head: Muguruza leads 3-1
Key Stats:
The winner finishes Roland Garros as the WTA's No.1
Muguruza owns a 24-4 lifetime record at Roland Garros.
Halep has 107 career wins on clay to 47 for Muguruza.
Since the start of her title run at Roland Garros in 2016, Garbiñe Muguruza has posted a 32-6 (.842) record in Grand Slam matches.
Halep is 2-0 in Roland Garros semifinals.
Halep took the pair’s lone meeting on clay, in 2015 at Stuttgart.
For the second consecutive time, Simona Halep will face Garbiñe Muguruza with the No.1 ranking on the line. The Romanian probably doesn’t want to think about the last time. That was late last summer in Cincinnati when Muguruza shellacked Halep 6-1, 6-0, handing the Romanian her third loss of the season in a match that would have seen Halep climb to No.1 with a victory.
Halep has since overcome that hurdle, and is the reigning No.1 at Roland Garros, but the Romanian is gunning for more than a ranking this week—she wants to win her first major title.
But it could be difficult because Muguruza is once again the imposing figure standing in her way and she is in fine fettle, playing her most supreme tennis since she won her second major title at Wimbledon last summer. When Muguruza gets rolling, as she clearly is after taking down Maria Sharapova to the tune of just three games dropped on Wednesday, there aren’t many players in the world who can stop her.
Muguruza has dropped just 20 games in five rounds (and dropped serve just six times), and while Halep has the reputation of being a better clay-court player, Muguruza is the former Roland Garros champion with the 86 percent winning percentage in Paris. Halep may have a more nuanced, quintessential game on the terre battue, with her ability to grind long rallies and play with comfortable margin so that her defense and counterpunching put her over the top, but Muguruza has the tools to push Halep’s defense to the limit while not stepping out of her own comfort zone.
It will be imperative for Halep to play at a high level and avoid the type of set that nearly did her in on Wednesday against Angelique Kerber when she made 30 errors, including 6 in the tiebreaker. It will also be important for Halep to serve to spots and keep Muguruza on the run as much as possible. The more she can get early control of points the better chance she will have of employing her patient, methodical attack.
As for Muguruza she’ll need to serve well, return well and get cracking from the first ball. She should, and will, be comfortable getting into rallies with Halep but she’ll want to use pace and depth down the middle to keep Halep behind the baseline where she isn’t so dangerous unless she takes a big risk.
Halep’s not a big underdog against Muguruza on the clay, but given the form of the Spaniard and the history of the two players in Grand Slams, it will be imperative for the Romanian to get a fast start so that her game can flow confidently.
[10] Madison Keys vs. [13] Madison Keys
Head to Head: Stephens leads 2-0
Key Stats:
Keys has won all ten sets she has played in Paris.
Stephens dropped just three games against Keys in the 2017 U.S. Open final.
This is the first all-American semifinal at Roland Garros since 2002.
Stephens can become the first American to reach the top five without the last name of Williams since Lindsay Davenport in April of 2006.
Madison Keys has rolled through all ten of her sets at Roland Garros but she has not faced a player with the jaw-dropping talent of Sloane Stephens in Paris and she’ll surely have her hands full when she does. Keys has lost all four sets she played against her good friend, including two at last year’s U.S. Open final where Stephens eased to a 6-3, 6-0 victory against a nervous, tentative Keys.
On Thursday the budding rivalry shifts to the clay, where Keys is an unlikely semifinalist based on her movement and her style of play, but not her ability to deliver big results at the majors. Keys is 12-5 lifetime at Roland Garros despite the fact that clay is not her preferred surface (Stephens embraces the clay a bit more, but she may be even better on a hardcourt as well) and the hard-serving American can be very formidable particularly when the conditions are slow in the damp, drizzly weather that Paris is currently experiencing. Conditions should help her a bit against Stephens, because she has the power to hit through the clay when it plays extremely slow.
But Stephens has the best of both worlds on this surface. She possesses incredible footwork, which enables her to absorb pace, counter punch and defend, and she’s also blessed with world class power that allows her to strike on a whim.
Stephens has also proven to be match tough in Paris. She came through a hair-raising challenge against Camila Giorgi of Italy in the third round, surviving despite the fact that the Italian served for the match twice before falling 8-6 in the third. The 25-year-old will be confident, especially after she drubbed rising Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. That 70-minute display of power and smooth, effortless clay-court tennis spoke volumes about Stephens as a major threat at Roland Garros.
Stephens has blossomed in a significant way over the last two seasons, and her title run at the U.S. Open could only be the beginning. She’s a true title threat at Roland Garros and should get by Keys without too much fuss on Thursday.