(June 3, 2016) The world’s top tennis players Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are seeking to make their own histories this weekend at Roland Garros.
Serena Williams advanced to her fourth French Open final besting Kiki Bertens 7-6(7), 6-4. The 34-year-old will take on 22-year-old Spaniard Garbine Murguza in Saturday’s women’s final. Should Williams win, she’ll tie Steffi Graf for most major titles in the Open Era at 22.
Djokovic has reached his fourth Roland Garros final in five years defeating up-and-comer No. 13 Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. The Serb is looking complete a career Grand Slam. The French Open title would complete the set.
Djokovic will face off against No. 2 Andy Murray who reached his first Roland Garros final beating defending champion Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Murray is the first British man since 1937 to reach the final.
Murray won his last encounter against Djokovic, on clay at the Italian Open.
“I’m extremely proud,” said Murray on-court. “I never expected to reach the final here.”
“I’d always struggled on the clay and then in the past two years I’ve had some of my best results. I hope I can put on a good match for the crowd on Sunday.
“I knew today if I wanted to win I was going to have to play one of my best clay-court matches. Stan’s record here the past two years has been unbelievable. He was playing better every match here. I played one of my best matches today. I’m looking forward to the final now.”
This will be a rematch of the Australian Open final.
“I’m sure that it’s going to be a final with a lot of emotions and a lot of exchanges from the baseline, because we have similar styles of game,” Djokovic said. “I know his game, he knows mine.”
“It’s another Grand Slam title up for grabs for both Andy and myself,” Djokovic said. “One thing I know I can expect when I get on the court with him is it’s going to be a very physical battle.”
This will be Djokovic’s 20th major final and Murray’s 10th.
If Djokovic wins on Sunday, he be the eighth man to win all majors in a career joining Don Budge, Fred Perry, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.
“The first set wasn’t easy,” Williams said of Bertens in French during her on-court interview. “I needed to play better because she was playing very well, but I’m very happy to win today.”
Williams had to fight off two set points in the first set.
Bertens became the first Dutch woman since 1977 to reach the semifinals.
Serena Williams is in her 27th major final going up against Muguruza on Saturday. The two met in the final of last year’s Wimbledon. The American has a 3-1 record against the Spanish woman. The lone loss came in the second round of Roland Garros.
Serena leads No. 4 seed Muguruza 3-1 in their head-to-head, but Muguruza’s lone win came here in Paris, when the Spaniard stunned the top seed in the second round in 2014.
Muguruza moves up to No. 3 in the world by reaching the final. She’ll jump to No. 2 in the world, if she wins the title.