French Open 2016 Results: Friday Winners, Scores, Stats and Singles Draw Update
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams both booked their spots in the final of the French Open with superb performances in their respective semi-finals on Friday
Djokovic was far too good for Dominic Thiem, coasting past the Austrian in what was his first ever Grand Slam semi-final. A brilliant win for second seed Andy Murray over reigning champions Stanislas Wawrinka in the other final four showdown set up what’s set to be a fascinating climax to the tournament.
Meanwhile, after her two-set win over Kiki Bertens, Williams stands on the brink of history, with the chance to level Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles on Saturday. Fourth seed Garbine Muguruza will be a major obstacle, though, as she blitzed her way past Samantha Stosur in the second semi.
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Here are the results in full from the day and a closer examination of how the action panned out.
| (1) Novak Djokovic bt. Dominic Thiem | 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 |
| (2) Andy Murray bt. (3) Stan Wawrinka | 6-4, 6-5, 4-6, 6-2 |
| (1) Serena Williams bt. Kiki Bertens | 7-6 (7), 6-4 |
| (4) Garbine Muguruza bt. (21) Samantha Stosur | 6-2, 6-4 |
Top Seeds Shine on Friday
With their final scheduled for Saturday it was the women who took to the Paris clay courts first on Friday, with Williams and Muguruza the big favourites to progress. Neither of the two stars disappointed.
The world No. 1 wouldn’t have expected to face Bertens, unseeded at Roland Garros, at this stage of the tournament. But the Dutchwoman put up an exceptional fight in the first set of this one, carving out a set point at 4-5 and then again in a tiebreak. But Williams, as she so often does, came up with big shots at big moments to take the opener.
From there, despite the best efforts of Bertens, Williams started to move through the gears, taking the third of three match points in the second set. The 21-time Grand Slam champion did reveal some possible injury issues ahead of the final, though, per Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times:
It won’t be an easy match on Saturday either, as Muguruza continued to show her quality on this surface.
The Spaniard has been rampant since nearly coming up short in the opening game of the tournament and showed the kind of standards here to suggest she’s capable of clinching a maiden Grand Slam triumph. Stosur may no longer be the force she once was, but Muguruza dropped just six games on the way to an emphatic win.
Williams beat Muguruza in the Wimbledon final last year, but the youngster will take some comfort from a result on these courts two years ago:
"French Open final will be fifth meeting between Serena and Muguruza. Serena leads head-to-head 3-1. Lone loss came at 2014 French Open.
— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) June 3, 2016"
Things were simple for Djokovic too, as he was far too powerful for a nervy Thiem in their match. While the Austrian has played superbly to make it to this stage of tournament, he seemed a little overwhelmed by the occasion on Friday and Djokovic ruthlessly exposed those frailties, giving up just seven games.
As we can see here courtesy of Eurosport, the top seed, chasing his first ever Grand Slam title, even had enough energy left to celebrate with some ballboys and ballgirls:
In the battle to face the Serb, it was Murray who flew out of the traps magnificently against Wawrinka, giving the reigning champion the runaround in the first two sets. But as the Swiss does so frequently, he dug in in the third, pushing a pulsating match into a fourth stanza.
Murray has showcased a grit to his play throughout this tournament, though, coming back from two sets down in both of his first two matches. So perhaps it was little surprise to see him come strong again at the start of the fourth, breaking his opponent in the very first game.
As we can see, he was producing some stunning tennis at this point in the contest:
It was a position that Murray preserved and then improved in the fourth set, breaking the serve for a second time and seemingly the will of Wawrinka to go 5-2 ahead. From there, the champion's defence was dead in the water, allowing the Scot to secure his first ever spot in the final at the French Open.
Djokovic will be extra motivated for this huge contest, though. The Serb has dominated the mens games for a long time now, but after falling short to Wawrinka at the final hurdle in 2015, has yet to add the Coupe des Mousquetaires to his ever-expanding trophy room.
A win over Murray would see him in possession of all four Grand Slam titles and would be the gloss on what have been an incredible few years for the world No. 1.
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