No pressure, no expectations as Halep eyes fourth Slam final
Paris, June 7: Simona Halep insists she feels “no pressure, no expectation” as she looks to reach a fourth Grand Slam final at the French Open.
The 26-year-old Romanian tackles 2016 Roland Garros winner and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza for a place in Saturday’s final.
World number one Halep was runner-up in Paris in 2014, where she was beaten by Maria Sharapova, and last year, going down to Jelena Ostapenko after squandering a set and 3-0 lead.
Her Slam misery continued at the Australian Open in January where she lost in three sets to Caroline Wozniacki.
“I have no expectations, no pressure,” said Halep after seeing off German 12th seed Angelique Kerber 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals yesterday.
“I just want to play as I did today, and as I did every day. If I do that, I will be okay after the match, no matter the result.”
On Wednesday, Halep looked anything but the top seed, slipping 4-0 down in the first set before she rallied to defeat Kerber, a two-time major winner who had exited in the first round in Paris in the last two years.
It was also a match which witnessed a colossal 99 unforced errors.
Halep is aware she cannot afford another poor start on Thursday against 24-year-old Muguruza who has been tested just once in Paris and that was in the first round where fellow former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova pushed her to a tiebreak in the first set.
The Spanish third seed thrashed Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 in the quarter-finals, condemning the Russian to her worst Grand Slam defeat in more than six years.
