Rome (AFP)
Simona Halep, seeded N.1, qualified Sunday for the final of the tennis tournament in Rome, where she will try to win after two finals lost in 2017 and 2018.
"And thank goodness I'm not going to play against Svitolina!" Responded the Romanian, referring to the Ukrainian who had beaten her both times in the final.
This time, she will meet in the final, Monday, the defending champion, the Czech Karolina Pliskova (seeded N.2), or her compatriot Marketa Vondrousova, finalist at Roland Garros last year.
To the applause of the public, authorized for the first time since the start of the tournament in very small numbers, the Romanian had to work in the semi-final against the Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, seeded N.9, to win in three sets (6-3, 4-6, 6-4).
By dominating this semi-final between two ex-queens of Roland-Garros, facing a very catchy Spanish opponent despite signs of fatigue and back pain, Halep signed his 13th consecutive victory.
This series began before the interruption of competitions due to coronavirus with a title in Dubai in February and continued in the resumption with his title in Prague in August and his four successes in Rome this week.
The second player in the world had chosen not to participate in the hard tournaments in New York at the end of August, the beginning of September, in particular in order to better prepare for Roland-Garros, which begins in a week.
Muguruza, who was the last player to beat her in January in the Australian Open semifinals, was unable to reoffend.
Broken and led in the 2nd and 3rd sets, the Spaniard has each time managed to return to the match, putting pressure on the Romanian until the end.
"Against Muguruza, it's always difficult. She's a really very, very difficult player," Halep admitted.
As for finding spectators?
"It was good to see people again, even if it wasn't me they were putting up with today. They were for Muguruza, but I was happy to see them, I felt their energy."
© 2020 AFP