Pavlyuchenkova, Krejcikova reach maiden French Open final

Joe Salisbury and Desirae Krawczyk lifted the mixed doubles title at Roland Garros on Thursday.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first career Grand Slam final at the French Open on Thursday. Zidansek hit 17 winners to Pavlyuchenkova’s seven in the first set, but it is the Russian who won the opening set in the 12th game of the match after a double fault from her opponent. The World No. 32 looked sublime in the second set, using her thunderous serves and forehand to perfection.

Pavlyuchenkova, a French Open quarter-finalist a decade ago, became the first woman to play more than 50 Grand Slam matches before making her first final. She broke the previous mark of 44 set by the 2015 US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci of Italy. Furthermore, the 29-year-old also becomes the first Russian woman to reach the Roland Garros final since Maria Sharapova in 2014.

In the other semi-final clash, it was Barbora Krejcikova who came out on top in a see-saw encounter. She ended Maria Sakkari's dream run after a 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 victory. The unseeded Czech used her high groundstrokes to unsettle Sakkari who was unwilling to move much towards the net. But the Greek responded well and gave her all but just didn't have enough at the end.

Krejcikova, who is just in her fifth Grand Slam singles main draw, reaches her maiden major final. It also turned out to be the longest women's semi-final match in Paris, with the match lasting for three hours and 18 minutes.

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Whoever wins the final will go on to script a terrific underdog story in the French Open.

Owing to this, there is an eagerly anticipated finale on the cards with both Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Barbora Krejcikova capable of capturing the coveted title. It will be a tough match to call when they take to the Court Philippe Chatrier on Saturday.

British-American recipe for mixed doubles success

Elsewhere, Great Britain's Joe Salisbury and United States of America's Desirae Krawczyk came back from a set down to be crowned the French Open mixed doubles champions. After losing the first set, they fought back to defeat Russian pair Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.

Salisbury and Krawczyk looked without fatigue, after receiving a walkover in the semi-final. A combination of some impressive net play coupled with powerful forehands did the trick for the British-American duo.

Salisbury became the first British to win the title at the Roland Garros since John Lloyd in 1982. This is his second Grand Slam title following his 2020 Australian Open men's doubles victory with Rajeev Ram. As for Krawczyk, this is her first Grand Slam title having lost in the women's doubles final at the Roland Garros in 2020.

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