The French Open has already reached the semi-finals stage and today we will see Simona Halep taking on Karolina Pliskova in the second semi-final. Apart from a berth in the final and a chance to win the first Grand Slam title, world no.1 spot is also in the offing for both players.
For Pliskova to become world no.1 all she needs to do is defeat Halep and reach the final but the Romanian needs to go all the way and win the French Open for the numero uno position.
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The Czech tennis star is ranked no.3 at the moment and before the French Open started she felt she did not have any chance to reach the final.
"Coming into this tournament, there were a few people who told me, 'You have to be in the final to be No.1.' I was, like, 'There is no chance I make final here. Now it's close, but it's far, because I'm playing against one of the best girls on clay. She's also playing for World No.1. So it's going to be huge match," WTA's official website quoted Pliskova as saying.
Halep will play her second French Open semi-finals after finishing as runner-up in 2014 against Maria Sharapova. She had a tough match against Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals after she went 3-6, 1-5 down and saved a match point in the second-set tiebreak to win 12 of the last 13 games in a superb 3-6 7-6(6) 6-0 comeback.
Halep revealed she thought it was all over for her after a horrible start.
"She was dominating the match. I just sat down at 5- 2, I said that the match is lost. So I did nothing to change something, to change the rhythm, that's it. It's over," Halep said.
"And then I started to feel more relaxed - maybe because I thought it's finished - and I change the rhythm. I put some high balls. I just tried to make her move more, to open the court, and it came."
"But I believed that it's gonna come, it's gonna turn something around, and that's it. I'm just happy. I am not thinking about how it was. I just take the fight thing, that I was fighting till the end, and I enjoy."
Halep will look to win her second title of the year with her first win coming at the Madrid Open while Pliskova targets her third title of the year with her first two wins coming in Brisbane and Doha.
The two tennis stars have met on six occasions before and Pliskova is currently leading the head to head record with four wins with the last one coming at the Canadian Masters in 2016. The two have never met on a clay court before but based on recent form Halep holds the upper hand.
Where to watch
The French Open semi-final between Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova is set to start at around 4:30 pm local time, 8:00 pm IST and 3:30 pm BST.
TV and live streaming information
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
Europe: TV: EuroSport. Live Streaming: EuroSport Player.
UK: TV: ITV. Live Streaming: ITV Hub.
Canada: TV: TSN. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
USA: TV: Tennis TV and NBC Sports. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports Arabia. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
