Simona Halep a castigat Roland Garros 2018 Imprimare
Sâmbătă, 09 Iunie 2018 17:17

  Simona  Halep  o  bate pe  Sloane  Stephens    cu  3:6,6:3,6:1

 

                 Simona Halep - French Open 2018 - Getty

  FELICITARI  Simona !


   Simona Halep leads the head-to-head 5-2 against Sloane Stephens, including 2-0 on clay and 2-0 within the past year; all of their matches have been decided in straight sets. The Romanian won their first meeting 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of Barcelona 2012; Stephens responded with two emphatic victories in the following year's Australian swing, 6-4, 6-0 in Hobart and 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of Melbourne - the latter of which paved the way to Stephens' maiden Grand Slam semifinal run. In 2014, Halep defeated Stephens 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round of Roland Garros en route to her own major semifinal - and final - debut, and pulled ahead in Miami 2015 6-1, 7-5. Last year, Halep also beat Stephens twice on US hard courts - 7-6(3), 6-0 in Washington, DC and 6-2, 6-1 in Cincinnati, two weeks before Stephens would win her first Slam title at the US Open.

 

 

This is the second Romanian-American Grand Slam final of the Open Era. The first was also at Roland Garros in 1980, when Chris Evert defeated Virginia Ruzici 6-0, 6-3. Halep would be the first Romanian major champion since Ruzici - who is now her agent - won the 1978 French Open.

Simona Halep is the fourth player in the Open Era to play a Grand Slam final having previously lost three. Helena Sukova lost the 1993 US Open to Stefanie Graf 6-3, 6-3, and would not reach another major final; Jana Novotna won Wimbledon 1998 over Nathalia Tauziat 6-4, 7-6(2); and while Kim Clijsters lost the 2004 Australian Open to Justine Henin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, she would go on to win her next four Slam finals.

Sloane Stephens has never lost a professional final, coming into today's match with an immaculate 6-0 record in title rounds. The American has only lost one set in a final ever - en route to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5(5) win over Dominika Cibulkova to win Acapulco 2016.

Simona Halep has an overall 16-14 record in Tour finals. The World No.1 lost her first three between 2010-12, and then won her next seven in 2013-14 as she rocketed into the Top 10. Between 2014-17, Halep went 8-5 in finals - but from Rome last year, she has lost six of her last seven title rounds, with the only victory coming in Shenzhen in January over Katerina Siniakova.

Simona Halep lost the first five games of her Roland Garros campaign this year, and has dropped two sets en route to the final - to Alison Riske in the first round and Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals. Sloane Stephens has dropped one set, in the third round to Camila Giorgi - who served for the match twice, but fell 4-6, 6-1, 8-6.

Both finalists are previous Roland Garros junior champions. Simona Halep won the girls' singles title in 2008 in an all-Romanian final over Elena Bogdan 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2, while Sloane Stephens took the girls' doubles crown in 2010, partnering Timea Babos to beat Lara Arruabarrena and María-Teresa Torró-Flor 6-2, 6-3.



 


 

 

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