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Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Photo:
Javier Garcia / BPI / Shutterstock / imago images / Shutterstock
The Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached the first Grand Slam final of her career at the French Open in Paris.
The 29-year-old beat Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia 7: 5, 6: 3 in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Most recently, in Maria Sharapova, a Russian woman won the title in Roland Garros in 2014.
Pavlyuchenkova will now play against the winner of the following duel between the Greek Maria Sakkari and the Czech Barbora Krejcikova on Saturday (3 p.m. / Eurosport and ServusTV) for the title.
She was there in the crucial phases of the game and made fewer mistakes than the 23-year-old world number 85.
Zidansek - maybe also because in the second movement she allowed herself some nerve food in the form of gummy bears during a pause.
Pavlyuchenkova, number 32 in the world from Samara, had eliminated the highly rated Aryna Sabalenka (number 3) and Wiktoria Asarenka (number 15) from Belarus on their way to the first semi-final.
The defending champion Iga Swiatek failed in the quarterfinals on Sakkari.
The three German starters around the three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber were all eliminated in the first round.
ara / sid
