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2016 French Open: Women's final preview

Serena Williams has been in hot water.
Roar Guru
3rd June, 2016
4

What has been a crazy, and at times wet and wild, French Open will conclude for the women when world number one Serena Williams and fourth seed Garbine Muguruza go head to head tonight (AEST) for the year’s second Grand Slam title.

Not only has the weather played havoc on the schedule at Roland Garros this year, a number of top seeds fell early including, among others, reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

Kerber was to become the first victim of a stunning run to the semi-finals by unheralded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, which would eventually end at the hands of top seed Williams, who by winning a fourth French Open title can complete the quadruple Career Slam, something achieved only by the legendary Steffi Graf.

The 34-year-old American romped through her opening matches without dropping a set before a washed-out Monday and a stop-start Tuesday meant she didn’t play her fourth round match against Elina Svitolina until Wednesday.

Then, in the quarter-final on Thursday she was taken to three sets by Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva before ending the dream run of Bertens in the semi-final on Friday.

It means that tonight’s final against Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza will be her fourth consecutive day of playing, and this could potentially take its toll on the world number one.

Unlike Williams, who had to wait until Wednesday to play her fourth round match, Muguruza managed to defeat the rain and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on the Sunday to reach her third consecutive quarter-final at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard then defeated American surprise packet Shelby Rogers in the quarter-finals on the Wednesday before dominating Samantha Stosur in her semi-final match on the Friday to qualify for her second Grand Slam final.

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Prior to her win over Kuznetsova, she found herself in a first-round struggle against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova before romping to straight-sets victories over Myrtille Georges and Yanina Wickmayer in the second and third rounds respectively.

Should Muguruza go on to win her first Major title on her second attempt (having previously been unsuccessful at Wimbledon last year when she went down to Serena Williams in straight sets), then it would complete one of the most meteoric rises up the ranks of women’s tennis over the last two years.

It started right here in 2014 when the Spaniard, aged 20 at the time, knocked the then-defending champion Williams out of the French Open en route to reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final, where she lost to Maria Sharapova in three sets.

Since then she has reached the aforementioned final at the All England Club, won her biggest career title in Beijing last year and now has the chance to achieve a career-high ranking of world number two if she can overcome Williams in tonight’s French Open women’s final.

But while Muguruza has been playing with confidence since the opening round, and can fancy her chances of repeating her upset victory over the American from 2014, the top seed should start favourite to win Grand Slam title number 22 and join Steffi Graf in equal second on the leaderboard, behind only Margaret Court (24).

Victory at Wimbledon and the US Open this year would then see her equal Court in top spot on the ladder, after which Williams will have the chance to claim sole ownership of the Grand Slam singles titles record at next year’s Australian Open.

Here is everything you need to know heading into the women’s final.

Serena Williams (1) versus Garbine Muguruza (4)

Saturday, June 4
Not before 3:00pm (11:00pm AEST)
Court Philippe Chatrier
Head-to-head: S Williams 3-1
At Grand Slams: S Williams 3-1
In finals: S Williams 1-0
Last meeting: S Williams 6-4, 6-4 final, Wimbledon 2015

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Serena Williams’ road to the final
Round 1: defeated Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-0
Round 2: defeated Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-1
Round 3: defeated Kristina Mladenovic (26) 6-2, 7-6 (12-10)
Round 4: defeated Elina Svitolina (18) 6-1, 6-1
Quarter-final: defeated Yulia Putintseva 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
Semi-final: defeated Kiki Bertens 7-6 (9-7), 6-4

Garbine Muguruza’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Round 2: defeated Myrtille Georges 6-2, 6-0
Round 3: defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0
Round 4: defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova (13) 6-3, 6-4
Quarter-final: defeated Shelby Rogers 7-5, 6-3
Semi-final: defeated Samantha Stosur (21) 6-2, 6-4

Stats that matter
* This will be Serena Williams’ fourth French Open final and 27th Grand Slam final overall, while for Garbine Muguruza this will be her second Grand Slam final. Williams will be aiming for her 2second Grand Slam title, and Muguruza her first.
* Williams is undefeated in three previous French Open finals, of which two were in straight sets: the opponent on these occasions were Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova in 2002 and 2013 respectively.
* Williams is attempting to become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2005-07 to successfully defend her French Open title.
* The American has won eight of the last nine Grand Slam finals in which she has contested, the only blot being her Australian Open final defeat to Angelique Kerber earlier this year.
* Muguruza is aiming to become the first female Spanish Grand Slam champion since Arantxa Sanchez Vicaro won her last French Open title in 1998. She has already become the first female Spanish player to reach the French Open final since Conchita Martinez in 2000.
* This will be the pair’s fifth meeting overall, all of which have taken place at Grand Slam level, and second in a final, after Wimbledon last year. Serena leads each category 3-1 and 1-0 respectively.
* Williams’ most recent loss at the French Open came at the hands of Muguruza, who was on her way to reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final, in 2014. That one ended in a 6-2, 6-2 victory for the Spaniard.
* Neither player had to defeat a top-ten opponent among them to reach the final. Williams’ highest-ranked victim was 20th-ranked Elina Svitolina while Muguruza’s was Svetlana Kuznetsova (15th).

Prediction
Serena Williams in straight sets.

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