Friday, June 5, 2015

Lucie Safarova--the busiest woman in Paris



Today, Lucie Safarova and her doubles partner, Bethan Mattek-Sands, advanced to the final of the French Open. Mattek-Sands, with partner Mike Bryan, has already won the mixed doubles title, so she's been pretty busy. But Safarova is also going to play in the singles final, which makes her the busiest woman of all.

Mattek-Sands and Safarova, the 7th seeds, claimed their spot in the final by defeating 2011 French Open champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Also playing in the final is the 12-seeded team of Casey Dellacqu and Yaroslava Shvedova who upset 2nd seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

Serena Williams has won the French Open twice; Safarova has never before played in a major final. The Czech star has yet to drop a set in singles play (she's dropped only one in doubles, and that was to Hlavackova and Hradecka). Williams and Safarova have played each other twice on clay. Williams won both matches (one was a final), which were both played in Charleston.

Williams, who has been suffering with flu for several days (yes, idiots posting on Twitter, she's sick), said yesterday that she hoped the worst part of the illness would be over very soon. If she wins the final, it will be her 20th major singles championship.

Here are the players' paths to the final:

Serena Williams
round 1--def. Andrea Hlavackova
round 2--def. Anna-Lena Freidsam
round 3--def. Victoria Azarenka (27)
round of 16--def. Sloane Stephens
quarterfinals--def. Sara Errani (17)
semifinals--def. Timea Bacsinszky (23)

Lucie Safarova
round 1--def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
round 2--def. Kurumi Nara
round 3--def. Sabine Lisicki (20)
round of 16--def. Maria Sharapova (2)*
quarterfinals--def. Garbine Muguruza (21)
semifinals--def. Ana Ivanovic (7)*

*former French Open champion

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