A quick look at the French Open:
MEN’S SEMIFINALS FRIDAY
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka beat No. 1 Andy Murray 6-7 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-1; and No. 4 Rafael Nadal beat No. 6 Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Nadal, a nine-time champion at Roland Garros, will face Wawrinka, the 2015 champ, in Sunday’s final.
STAT OF THE DAY
1973 - The last time a man older than the 32-year-old Wawrinka appeared in the men’s final at the French Open.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“To play Rafa on clay in (the) French Open in a final is probably the biggest challenge you can have in tennis.” - Wawrinka.
LOOKAHEAD TO SATURDAY
A women’s tournament that was missing Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka will finish with a first-time Grand Slam champion, either No. 3-seeded Simona Halep of Romania or 47th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Ostapenko, who turned 20 on Thursday, is the first unseeded finalist at Roland Garros since 1983; she’s also never won a tour-level title of any sort. More reasons to find her participation in the final surprising: She had never been past the third round at any Grand Slam tournament before this week, and her previous French Open experience consisted of a first-round loss last year and a loss in qualifying the year before that. The 25-year-old Halep is a much more established player. She owns 15 tiles, was the 2014 runner-up at the French Open and will move up to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time if she wins. The matchup provides quite a contrast in styles: Ostapenko’s big bold strokes aimed at lines vs. Halep’s more conservative, defensive strategy.
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