The 2016 French Open draw may have ultimately unraveled in favor of top seed Serena Williams earning her 22nd Grand Slam title, but heading into the finals she’s getting anything but a break. Williams punched her ticket to the final by beating unseeded Kiki Bertens in the semifinals on Friday, winning 7-6(6), 6-4. There, she’ll face the always-tough Garbine Muguruza, who also punched her own ticket on Friday.
2016 French Open results and scores: Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic punch ticket into finals
The finals are set for Roland Garros, and Serena Williams will have another shot at Grand Slam No. 22.
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Muguruza, the fourth seed, easily dispatched No. 21 Samantha Stosur in the other semifinal to advance. Some might even suggest that Muguruza has had an easy path to the finals -- she faced an unseeded Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinal and has only faced two seeded opponents thus far, in Stosur and No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Williams initially saw a draw that included potential matches against players like Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic on her own side, and then Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep on the other. But she’s making it through without facing any of them.
Muguruza is a legitimate opponent though, having beaten Serena once before. They have met four times, with Muguruza winning in 2014, though it was on the clay of Roland Garros where she took the victory. Their final matchup is set for Saturday.
On the men’s side, we’ve got the predicted final of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, with the latter handling defending champion and No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka on Friday. Murray struggled early in the tournament this year with a couple five-set matches to open his Roland Garros bid, and many expected Wawrinka to send him home. Wawrinka had dominated Murray in recent matches between the two, but Murray ultimately walked away with the 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 victory.
Djokovic, who flashed a temper in his last match that saw him warned by the judge, experienced no such worries on Friday. He completely dominated young Dominic Thiem in his semifinal match, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, and will once again have another shot at his first French Open title when he faces Murray in the finals on Sunday.
Men’s Singles
No. 1 Novak Djokovic def. No. 13 Dominic Thiem, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 Andy Murray def. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Women’s Singles
No. 1 Serena Williams def. Kiki Bertens, 7-6(7), 6-4
No. 4 Garbine Muguruza def. No. 21 Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-4
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