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So, we are down to the final four. 128 women started in the field, and one by one, they were eliminated in some way, either slowly, painfully or quickly, depending on how your favourite player went.
And now we are down to four women, and what a line-up we have.
Four of the world’s top five featuring in the semi-finals marks the best performance by the top women at a Major tournament since Wimbledon in 2009, when the Williams sisters, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva reached the final four.
Here is the women’s semi-finals preview:
Serena Williams versus Sara Errani
Head-to-head: S. Williams 5-0
Last meeting: S. Williams 7-5, 6-2, semi-finals, 2013 Madrid Open
Just when you thought that Serena Williams would romp all the way to the title without being challenged, suddenly she was thrown into the deep end against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarter-finals.
All went to script when she took the first set 6-1, but then Kuznetsova, who actually defeated Williams en route to winning the 2009 French Open title, turned the match on its head taking the second set 6-3, and then broke early to lead 2-0 in the decider.
But then Williams, as the fighter that she has proven to be over her career, came back strongly, reeling off six of the next seven games to ultimately take a three-set victory and thus advance to this stage for the first time since 2003.
Opposing her on court will be World No. 5 Sara Errani, whose progress was almost halted by injury and a feisty opponent in Carla Suarez Navarro in the fourth round.
Errani appeared in trouble after losing the first set 7-5 but then came back to win, as she has in some of her matches over the last 12 months.
In the quarter-finals, she recorded her first breakthrough victory by knocking off World No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, thus marking the first time in almost 30 attempts in which Errani has beaten a top five player.
Prior to this, Marion Bartoli had been the Italian’s highest-ranked victim, at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Now, if she wants to go one better and lift the title on Saturday, she’ll first have to overturn another poor record – she is 0-5 against Serena Williams lifetime, and lost their most recent meeting in Madrid.
Key: While Serena was challenged, Errani has been slowly going about her business as she bids to reach one more final. But Errani will meet her match in the semi-finals, that’s for sure.
Tip: Williams in straight sets
Victoria Azarenka versus Maria Sharapova
Head-to-head: Azarenka 7-5
Last meeting: Sharapova 6-4, 6-2, semi-finals, 2012 WTA Tour Championships
Just when you thought the rivalry between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova was dead, suddenly it’s been revived again.
Both players endured major struggles to get to reach this stage.
Azarenka needed 77 minutes to win the first set against her former doubles partner and top ten debutant Maria Kirilenko before romping through the second to get to where she is now.
Sharapova endured a tougher start against Jelena Jankovic, failing to win a game in the first set before rallying to win in three sets.
Azarenka’s run to the final four completes her set of having reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments, and her streak of four consecutive semi-finals at this level is an all-time best.
Sharapova in the meantime, will be hoping it’s third time lucky as she attempts to reach her first Grand Slam final since completing the Career Grand Slam in Paris last year.
The fierce rivalry between Azarenka and Sharapova was there for all to see last year.
Azarenka won four of the six meetings, the first of which was a crushing 6-3, 6-0 victory in last year’s Australian Open ‘grunt-off’ for the title, and the third of which was a thrilling three-set semi-final at the US Open.
While Azarenka dominated on the hard courts, Sharapova won two key matches – their meeting on the clay in the Stuttgart final, as well as the semi-final at the year-end championships.
If Azarenka is to reach her first French Open final, she’ll have to overturn a poor record against Sharapova on clay – the Russian has won both of their meetings on the dirt.
Key: Both Azarenka and Sharapova struggled through their respective semi-finals, but which one will pull through in what promises to be another entertaining match between these two loud grunters?
Tip: Azarenka in three sets.
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