French Open 2018: Simona Halep to play Sloane Stephens in final

Thanks to her sublime athleticism and great ball-striking, she can essentially "shut the court down" against her opponents, slowly smothering them with controlled aggression, injections of pace or go on lock-down defensively.

"I'm happy I get the chance to play another final in my favourite Grand Slam", Halep said.

"I have actually been told quite often that I'll never win or do well because I'm too nice of a person and I just don't have it". "It was really important for my mind to know I could win against a great opponent". Halep started slowly, spraying shots wide as she lost the first four games of the match against the No. 12 seed who hit her early groundstrokes with lethal accuracy. And I played very well, and she played very well.

Halep who will also keep hold of the world number one ranking as a result of the victory, made a flying start and was 5-0 in quick time as Muguruza made some wild errors. Sloane Stephens has dropped one set, in the third round to Camila Giorgi - who served for the match twice, but fell 4-6, 6-1, 8-6.

The good news for Simona Halep: she will play for a maiden grand slam title after taking out Garbine Muguruza in a semi-final.

Three previous times, the other player - be it Maria Sharapova, Jelena Ostapenko or Caroline Wozniacki - won that third set.

The second set followed a similar pattern as Keys lost her first service game, although there was brief hope for the 13th seed when she broke for the first time when Stephens was serving for the match at 5-2.

A foot injury - and then surgery - had put her career on ice for 10 months and her ranking had nosedived to 323 in the world. While Sharapova wasn't prominent in the conversation to add a third title to her résumé, she looked as if she belonged in the second week, which ended with rising commotion around a scheduled fourth-round clash against arch-nemesis Serena Williams. She went on to commit only 16 errors over the course of the next two, which was the difference in getting the win.

Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys.

History is on Nadal's side as he continues his quest for an 11th title at Roland-Garros. Since then, they made remarkable returns as they both feature in a second semi-final in the last three Slams.

There were no such fireworks this time, though, with Halep sealing a 6-7 (7-2) 6-3 6-2 victory.

The women got their matches done before rain arrived at Roland Garros, leaving the men's quarterfinals suspended in progress. Sharapova was the French Open champion in 2012 and 2014; Muguruza took the trophy in 2016.

Halep was in sensational form early in the match. "My head won it", Halep said.

She has acknowledged having trouble handling her nerves, which is part of why she was so proud about the way she overcame Kerber, a two-time major champion and former No 1.

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