Ons Jabeur described her conqueror Beatriz Haddad Maia as a beast. And why not? The woman has shown extraordinary powers of endurance to reach her first semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament. And a year after suffering a horrific injury on centre court in the semis, Alex Zverev will be back in the last four.
Mind games
Beatriz Haddad Maia has reached her first semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament after some battles. In the fourth round she and Sara Sorribes Tormo slogged it out for nearly four hours. Wonderful preparation then for the quarter-final against the seventh seed Ons Jabeur. A wobble was in the offing as Haddad Maia served at 4-1 up in the decider. She fought off four break points during a game lasting 11 and a half minutes to lead 5-1. She put her hands on her head in disbelief at the end of the match after two and a half hours. “When I came to Roland Garros, my first goal was to be in the third round because I had never won a second round match in a Grand Slam,” said the 27-year-old Brazilian. “I remember when I won the third round, I said: ‘OK, when we have eight players in the quarter-finals, everybody is playing well, so everybody can believe.’” Haddad Maia will require all that motivation when she plays top seed Iga Swiatek.
Oiling the wheels
Ons Jabeur was her ever munificent self after her three-set defeat to Beatriz Haddad Maia. “She has played longer than me but she's a beast and I wish her all the best,” said the 28-year-old Tunisian. Haddad Maia has toiled for nearly 13 hours to reach the singles semis. She played for just over two hours in the doubles as well. Her semi-final opponent Iga Swiatek? Five hours 30 minutes. And she hasn't lost a set. The 22-year-old Pole described the first set in the quarter-final against Coco Gauff as tight before winning it 6-4. "I feel having these couple of tougher situations and really important points means you're just not going to feel rusty when it happens again," reasoned Swiatek. "I didn't feel rusty against Coco anyway, but it's good to have the experience." Hope you're feeling very beastly Beatriz.
Change
Not only was sixth seed Coco Gauff trying to avenge her defeat in last year's French Open final, she was trying to beat Iga Swiatek for the first time. "I tried to change up a different way of how I played," expained the American after the quarter-final set back. "Obviously I didn't win, so it didn't work ... but I think on certain points it did. But, yeah, I have to figure something out." At 19, Gauff certainly has time on her side but then again Swiatek is only 22. The fix can't come quick enough for Gauff.
Pride in the name alone
The Roland Garros tournament marked the 10th anniversary of same sex marriages in France and the first gay wedding celebrated in Paris with an RG Pride Day. The grounds were decked out in rainbow colours and the tournament social media pages carried the colours too. Gilles Moretton, boss of the French tennis federation - which organises the French Open - said: "We are proud to have organised this celebration, which is perfectly aligned with the diversity and inclusion values that the FFT upholds. We are fully committed to continuing to organize these types of activities.” Who is in the FFT marketing department? The last of the night matches came at the end of this day of inclusion and diversity. And for the 10th time in the 11 sessions it involved a tie from the men's draw. Is this the modern world?
Very happy returns
Alex Zverev saw off the unseeded Argentine Tomas Etcheverry in four sets to make the semi-final for a second consecutive year. He will take on the ....fourth seed Casper Ruud on Friday for a place in Sunday's final. Zverev injured his right ankle during last year's semi final against Rafael Nadal and spent six months on the sidelines. "I'm so happy to be back in the semi-finals," beamed the 25-year-old German. "I love tennis from the bottom of my heart and I love the competition and it was taken away from me for a long time. I can't be happier."
