Top seed Simona Halep reached her third French Open final by stopping hard-hitting Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in her tracks with a 6-1, 6-4 semifinal victory on Thursday.
The Romanian, who will also keep hold of the World No. 1 ranking as a result of the victory, made a flying start and was 5-0 in quick time as Muguruza made some wild errors.
Muguruza ratcheted up the intensity in the second set and broke in the third game when a powerful return forced an error, only for Halep to fight her way back to level at 4-4.
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A marathon ninth game proved pivotal as Halep saved three break points to pile the pressure on the third seed.
Halep then seized her chance, moving 0-40 ahead and then raising her arms in triumph as Muguruza blazed a backhand long.
Halep has been beaten in all of her previous Major final appearances, including at Roland Garros last year by Jelena Ostapenko.
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“I am really happy that I won the match, it was very important for my mind and I gave it all I had. I have another chance to be in the final and hope to do better than last year,” said Halep.
Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro wept courtside after downing third seed Marin Cilic 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a semifinal clash with Rafael Nadal.
The injured-plagued former US Open champion battled through in three hours and 50 minutes after the match had been delayed by rain on Wednesday to reach the last four at Roland Garros for the second time, but first in nine years.
“It’s tough to speak now,” said an emotional Del Potro. “I’ve been a long time without feeling good with my body. I had surgery three times on my wrist and I was close to quitting this sport. I don’t have words to explain what this means to me and my team.”
Nadal, on his part, battled back from a set down to beat Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in their rain-interruped quarterfinal on Thursday, edging closer to an 11th title in Paris.
The World No.1 was much-improved under the sunshine on Court Philippe Chatrier after finding life difficult in damp conditions the night before, finally seeing off dogged Argentinian Schwartzman on his fourth match point.
It is the 11th time the 32-year-old Spaniard has reached the French Open last four, becoming only the third man in history to achieve the feat at a Grand Slam tournament, after Jimmy Connors at the US Open and Roger Federer at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
Kuerten appointed ambassador
Meanwhile, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) on Thursday announced that it has named Brazilian tennis legend and three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten as a Roland Garros ambassador.