French Open 2015 Results: Thursday Winners, Scores, Stats, Singles Draw Update
The 2015 French Open final is officially set on the women's side but not before a pair of gripping matches between semifinalists on Thursday's slate.
After 11 days of round-the-clock tennis at Roland Garros, those two semifinal matches were the only ones on tap in the men's and women's singles draw for Thursday. They more than lived up to the billing, as two women's stars got past tough tests and into Saturday's championship match.
Here's a closer look into Thursday's results.
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2015 French Open Scores: Thursday, June 4
| No. 1 Serena Williams def. No. 23 Timea Bacsinszky | 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 |
| No. 13 Lucie Safarova def. No. 7 Ana Ivanovic | 7-5, 7-5 |
No. 1 Serena Williams def. No. 23 Timea Bacsinszky
A 2015 French Open chock-full of adversity for top-seeded Serena Williams will at least end in a championship final appearance, secured by Thursday's three-set win over No. 23 Timea Bacsinszky that looked impossible during stretches.
Although she dropped the first set, that didn't produce any worrying signs as Williams had overcome first-set defeats three times already in the tournament. But this time around, she was obviously not herself and being held back by some sort of ailment that left her hunching over between points and coughing into a towel between games.
Trailing 3-2 in the second set, Williams could have easily mailed it in. Instead, she found her groove, hitting big serves and powerful forehands to prevent the long rallies that were wearing her down. Bacsinszky couldn't take advantage, and Williams rattled off 10 straight games to come from behind for the victory.
It was a classic display of determination from Williams, which Steve Weissman of ESPN used to inspire other athletes:
Not surprisingly, Williams was more relieved and exhausted than excited after clinching the win, as shown by Roland Garros:
Bacsinszky established her game well early on and hit 26 winners on the match but stood no real chance once Williams got going. It's a bitter ending to the Swiss native's tournament but still marks her best Grand Slam result by far in her career.
It may be so that Williams' illness will be too much to overcome in the final against Lucie Safarova, but she at least will get the chance to find out. And with how she has proven able to overcome any amount of adversity this year at Roland Garros, it's hard to bet against her.
No. 13 Lucie Safarova def. No. 7 Ana Ivanovic
Safarova made waves halfway through the tournament by dispatching defending champion Maria Sharapova, but she wasn't done there. Thursday produced yet another straight-sets win for her at Roland Garros, this time over No. 7 Ana Ivanovic to clinch a spot in Saturday's final.
She continued her spurt of winning every match in straight sets, but that's not to say it came easy. Ivanovic took control first in the opening set, calling on Safarova to steam back in front and avoid a tiebreaker, winning 7-5.
Safarova shot herself in the foot repeatedly with eight double faults but more than made up for it with eight of nine points won at the net. Meanwhile, Ivanovic struggled to return all match and also won just 43 percent of her second serves.
There was no second title in store for the 2008 French Open champion, but Ivanovic certainly proved herself as a remaining force throughout the two weeks, per Roland Garros:
As for Safarova, she becomes just the first Czech woman to reach the French Open final in 34 years. And you can't ask for much more in the way that she's done it, dispatching four seeded foes and two top-10 seeds—all in straight sets—to get there.
Oh, there is one more thing you could ask of her, and that's beating Williams to prevent her claiming a 20th Grand Slam title while notching the third French Open title of her career.
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