Hollywood couldn’t have scripted this semifinal clash much better. Timea Bacsinszky and Jelena Ostapenko will square off on their shared birthday for a place in the French Open final. Let’s repeat that, two players who share the same birthday will lock horns at Roland Garros on that said birthday. Only in the French Open guys.
Bacsinszky booked a spot in this one-in-a-million clash with a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kristina Mladenovic in the quarterfinals. With the packed crowd rooting against her, Bacsinszky held her composure in a match twice interrupted by rain. She blasted 25 winners and won 63 percent of her first serve points against Mladenovic. Bacsinszky’s aggressive play also reaped major dividends as she won 12 of her 17 net points against the Frenchwoman.
For Bacsinszky to record the all-important victory today, she needs to continue her excellent return play and put pressure on Ostapenko’s serve. Bacsinszky won 51 percent of her receiving points against Mladenovic with the Swiss star converting five of her 13 break point chances. In this tournament thus far, Bacsinszky has converted 29 of her 58 break point opportunities for an incredible 50 percent success rate.
Jelena Ostapenko stormed into the semifinals of the 2017 French Open with a tough 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Caroline Wozniacki on Tuesday. It was a remarkable performance from Ostapenko who reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time in her young career. At 19 years old, she’s the first teenager to reach this stage at Roland Garros since Ana Ivanovic in 2007.
Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Ostapenko as standing in her way in the next round is Timea Bacsinszky. For Ostapenko to grab the upset today, the Latvian needs to improve on her first serve percentage. Ostapenko won just 57 percent of her first serve points against Wozniacki. That simply won’t do against a world-class player like Bacsinszky who is 9-3 on clay this season.
Ostapenko has to be aggressive right from the get-go for the teen phenom to stand a chance against Bacsinszky. She will need to put pressure on the Swiss star and she can achieve that by employing her highly-effective net play. She won 15 of her 16 net points in the previous round against Wozniacki. For the tournament, Ostapenko has won 80 percent (35-of-44) of her total net points.
