The pleasure of ricochets.
After eliminating Belarusians Aryna Sabalenka (n ° 3) and Viktoria Azarenka in the 3rd round and in the round of 16, then Kazakhe Elena Rybakyna (9-7 in the 3rd set in the quarter-finals), Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (seed n ° 31) dominated Slovenian Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Roland-Garros final.
At 29 years old.
She who lives her 52nd major tournament, took her first steps in Grand Slam in 2007 at Wimbledon is discovered, is revealed late.
On the court, hot (and in French), she underlined: “
I wanted it so much, there are a lot of emotions, I hardly feel anything.
Tennis is such a mental sport, there are times when you can play better and lose, it's so difficult.
I tried to fight on every ball, on every point, without forgetting to think about the tactics.
The final ?
I want to play well.
"
The last Russian victory in Paris dates back to 2014 and the second crown at Roland Garros for Maria Sharapova (after 2012).
At a press conference, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (29, 32nd in the world) is enjoying the late harvest.
Ten years ago, she was ranked 13th in the world.
In the new quartet of semi-finalists of the French Open, she was the most experienced (twelve titles).
“
I always had the game, I always played well but I was not there mentally. I have recently been working on it with a sports psychologist and I feel that it is starting to bear fruit,
”she said before the semi-final. Until this Roland-Garros tournament, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had never reached the quarter-finals (reached six times, including one at Roland-Garros, ten years ago). She continues to surprise and surprise herself. His solid match (3 aces; 6 break points converted out of 10, 19 winning shots), controlled allowed him not to get carried away on the emotional slide at the gates of a first final.
On Saturday, the Russian will meet the Greek Maria Sakkari (n ° 17) or the Czech Barbora Krejcikova. At the heart of a match that will dedicate a new queen to Roland-Garros. As in the last five editions (Garbine Muguruza, Jelena Ostapenko, Simona Halep, Ashleigh Barty, Iga Swiatek).
