French Open roundup | Simona Halep and Jelena Ostapenko to battle it out in Women's Singles finals
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Simona Halep reserved the first berth for the Women's singles final after defeating Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. In the other semi-final contest, the unseeded Jelena Ostapenko overcame Switzerland's Timea Bacsinzky 7-6, 3-6 and 6-3 to seal her first major tournament final berth.
Simona Halep beats Karolina Pliskova
Third-seeded Simona Halep defeated Czech Republican Karolina Pliskova, who was the second seed in the tournament, to confirm her first major Grand Slam final and took one step closer to overcome Angelique Kerber as the number one ranked Women's single player.Â
The Romanian led from the front and forced Pliskova to make 24 errors to win the first set 6-4. However, the Czech clawed back into the game and edged out in the second set to win 6-3. Halep was under pressure in the deciding set but held on her nerves to take a 3-1 lead at the outset. However, Pliskova reduced the deficit to 4-3 to eventually lose out on the set 6-3.alep was under pressure in the deciding set but held on her nerves to take a 3-1 lead at the outset. However, Pliskova reduced the deficit to 4-3 to eventually lose out on the set 6-3.
Jelena Ostapenko reaches her first ever Grand Slam final
Jelena Ostapenko became the first Latvian international to book a spot in the finals of a Grand Slam tournament after Caroline Wozniacki achieved the feat by reaching the finals of the US Open in 2009.
Ostapenko faced a gritty Timea Bacsinzky who crashed out of the semi-finals of the clay court championship in 2015 and was determined not to repeat her loss. However, Ostapenko showed nerves of steel and edged out the first set after taking it to the tiebreaker. The Latvian appeared lost in the second set when she dropped four straight games to lose the set 3-6. However, the 20-year old bounced back into the game taking a 4-3 lead to eventually win the decider 6-3.
Rohan Bopanna becomes the 4th Indian to lay hands on a Grand Slam title
Rohan Bopanna, along with partner Gabriela Dabrowski, secured the French Open Mixed Doubles title, 2-6, 6-2, 12-10, by beating Anna-Lena Groenfeld and Robert Farah in the final today. Bopanna became the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam event after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza.
Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski were seeded seventh in the clay court championship and took just over an hour to cap off the magnificent win over the unseeded pair of Groenefeld and Farah on Philippe-Chatrier Court after trailing early on.
With the win, Bopanna also buried the demons of the US Open doubles final loss to the famous Bryan brothers in the 2010 edition. Bopanna has now become the fourth Indian to win a mixed doubles crown at Roland Garros. Bhupathi was the first Indian to the lift the trophy in 1997, partnering Japan’s Rika Hiraki before teaming up with Paes to win it again two years later. Bhupathi, then, won it for the last time in 2012 with Sania Mirza as his partner.
It was an important day for Gabriela Dabrowski as well who became the first Canadian to lift a Grand Slam Trophy.
Fernando Verdasco and Nenad Zimonjic register first final spot
The duo of American Donald Young and Mexican Santiago Gonzalez became the first pair to register a spot in the finals of the competition after they defeated Spanish Fernando Verdasco and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic  7-6, 5-7 and 6-3.
