Serena Williams (photo ©Emmett Anderson) reached the final by defeating Andrea Hlavackova, Anna-Lena Friedsam, Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Timea Bacsinszky. So far she lost a total of 4 sets: in the second round to Friedsam, in the third round to Azarenka, in the fourth round to Stephens and in the semifinal to Bacsinszky. This is her third Roland Garros final after winning the 2002 and 2013 ones.
Lucie Safarova reached the final defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Kurumi Nara, Sabine Lisicki, Maria Sharapova, Garbine Muguruza and Ana Ivanovic. She has lost no sets. This is her first final in a Grand Slam tournament.
The beginning of the match is balanced. There was some doubt about the Serena Williams’ health but at least for the moment she seems to be moving well. Lucie Safarova is also known for being emotional and could be nervous but doesn’t seem particularly tense. The American increases the speed of her return and in the fourth game breaks the Czech. Safarova plays well but that’s not enough because she can’t keep rallies long to move her opponent. In the eighth game the Czech offers a break point which is also a set point but wins her service game. For Williams it’s just a little delay because in the ninth game she wins the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Serena Williams breaks Lucie Safarova in the first game. The Czech just can’t find the weapons she needs to creat trouble for her opponent and in the fifth game she gets broken again and the score is now 4-1 for the American. Williams now seems to dominate but in the sixth game she makes three double faults and gets broken back. Suddenly the American seems to have a black-out, so much that in the eighth game she loses her service game once again with another double fault on the break point. However, Williams restart playing and in the eleventh game she breaks Safarova another time, serves for the match but the Czech breaks her back with a couple of big winners. They go to the tie-break, where the American still shows her problems losing two service points. With the Czech leading 3-0, Williams reacts but they switch court on with Safarova leading 4-2 and then she goes on with her streak winning the second set tie-break 7-2.
In the third set, Lucie Safarova immediately breaks Serena Williams in the first game. The situation seems turned upside down in the match from the first set and a half but Williams is a fighter and breaks the Czech in the fourth game, again in the sixth game in the eighth game winning the third set 6-2 and regaining the Roland Garros title.
Lucie Safarova played an amazing tournament and all in all played well in the final. Her problem is that she failed to fully take advantage of the her opponent’s problems giving the impression that they she can’t go beyond a certain level. She’s a high-level player but for her to reach a final in a Grand Slam tournament is a surprise and I think she won’t do it again.
For Serena Williams it was a complicated tournament because of some health problems. In these two weeks she’s been far from the player who sometimes looks really invincible and yet she managed to overcome difficulties and win her 20th Grand Slam title, confirming once again to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
