Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Czech Barbora Krejcikova will contest the 2021 women's singles final at the French Open.
29-year-old Pavlyuchenkova beat Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in their last four encounter in Paris on Thursday afternoon.
Pavlyuchenkova was the world junior number one aged just 14 and now, 15 years later, she's on the biggest stage playing for her first Grand Slam title.
In the other semi-final, Krejcikova needed over three hours to beat Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-5, 4-6, 9-7.
She had fallen six times in slam quarter-finals over 10 years, Maria Sharapova, the last Russian to win the women's singles title at Roland Garros, quickly congratulated her on Twitter.
23-year-old Zidansek is ranked 85 in the world.
🇷🇺 Russia’s Return 🇷🇺
Pavlyuchenkova becomes the first Russian woman to reach the #RolandGarros final since Sharapova in 2014. pic.twitter.com/3dytCYWzIZ
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 10, 2021
The women's singles draw at this year's French Open has been an unusual one this year, with only one of the top 10; reigning champion Iga Świątek left at the quarter-final stage.
For unseeded Krejcikova, this was just her fifth Slam singles main draw and the 25-year-old could now go all the way.
A fighter 💪#RolandGarros | @BKrejcikova pic.twitter.com/pBmlYAuA4h
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 10, 2021
Speaking afterward, Krejcikova, who is ranked 33rd in the world, said this was dream come true stuff.
"I always wanted to play a match like this,"
"When I was younger and I was playing juniors, I always wanted to play such a challenging match where we both had chances and were playing so well - and only one can win.
"Even if I lost today I would be very proud of myself because I was fighting. That is the most important thing, to fight, in here and in our own life."
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