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Djokovic, Murray, Serena, Muguruza Set Finals Showdowns

Jun 3rd 2016

After nearly two weeks of rain, dismal weather, delays, and interruptions of play, the finals at Roland Garros were finally set at the end of play on Friday.

Novak Djokovic

Men’s Semifinals

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic will face Andy Murray in the men’s final after both advanced on Friday. Djokovic cruised past Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Meanwhile, the No. 2 seed dethroned defending champion Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

The world No. 1 quickly cooled down the red-hot Thiem in impressive fashion behind consistent groundstrokes that kept the Austrian off balance. A focused, relentless Djokovic refused to let Thiem off of the mat, peppering him with tremendous ball-striking from the baseline in one of his most impressive performances of the tournament. Meanwhile, the inexperience of Thiem showed as he was never able to solve the Djokovic assault.

The Serb would break serve six times and feed off errors by the first-time major semifinalist. Djokovic would cruise in just an hour and 50 minutes and looks to be peaking at the perfect time. “I did not start this tournament the way I wanted, but today I played my best match of the tournament,” he said afterwards. “I have been dreaming all year long of reaching the Roland Garros final.”

Andy Murray

It was an impressive performance by Murray as well. The Scot appeared refreshed and quickly solved the signature groundstrokes of Wawrinka, gaining good court position during the early going. He would place the Swiss into defensive mode for much of the match and benefited from 43 unforced errors.

Wawrinka rebounded in the third set but appeared slightly off his game, and Murray capitalized, closing out the match in four sets. Much like Djokovic, Murray felt he played well on Friday. “I am extremely proud. I never expected to reach a final here,” he said. “I knew today if I wanted to win I would have to play one of my best clay court matches. I played one of my best matches today.”

The results set up what should be an epic final, pitting the top two players in the world against each other. Djokovic owns a 23-10 head-to-head record and is 5-2 on clay against Murray.

Serena Williams

Women’s Semifinals

In the women’s draw, Serena Williams defeated Kiki Bertens 7-6, 6-4, while Garbine Muguruza advanced past Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-4, to set up the final.

Williams’ day began much like her quarterfinal match with a number of unforced errors leading to opportunities for her opponent. Bertens, who was hobbled with a calf injury, took advantage by gaining a set point in the first set. But the American sensed her inability to freely move throughout the court without pain and placed Bertens on the run, using drop shots to her advantage. She would even the set and look to capitalize, but the Dutchwoman was able to fend off a break point and continued to stay in the battle. The set would be decided in a tiebreak, and Bertens continued to fight, gaining more set point opportunities. But she could not cash in, and Williams finally did, winning the breaker at 9-7.

In the second set, Bertens would gain an early break to go up 2-0, but Williams’ game began to click, and she broke serve twice to gain the advantage. The 34-year-old served out the match to advance.

Williams was happy to be moving on. “The first set was not very easy, but I think that today I played better. Bertens played very well,” she said courtside. Later, she would state that she was nursing an injury herself as she continues to deal with an abductor, but “it is what it is.”

Garbine Muguruza

Meanwhile, Muguruza continued to compete at a high level in her match against the Australian. She took advantage of Stosur’s struggling serve, breaking five times. Her power game seized control of the encounter and kept Stosur on the defensive for much of the day. The veteran was only able to strike 12 winners during the match.

Stosur would attempt a late rally in the second set, but the Spaniard quickly gained control once again to take the set and match. Muguruza admitted that nerves came into play late, “I played very well until I led 5-2 in the second set, and then she stepped up a gear, and I became a bit nervous,” she said. “Emotions sometimes can be bad.”

Despite her emotions, Muguruza should have confidence and like her chances against Williams in the final. Although she has a 1-3 record against the world No. 1, her one win was at Roland Garros in 2014, when she handed Williams a 6-2, 6-2 defeat.