MARIA SHARAPOVA INTO FINAL OF THE FRENCH OPEN 2014

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Eugenie Bouchard could not quite shoulder her way past Maria Sharapova, but the 2012 champion’s reaction to victory was such that she knew she had been in a prize-fight. 

The two-hour 27-minute duration and 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 scoreline suggested a classic, although a combined total of 83 errors from both players meant this encounter fell short of that. Sharapova had to work for every point on the road to her victory, and whether it was her experience or her famous competitive resources that saw her home is moot. The bottom line is that on this day she had more than the 20-year-old Canadian, and she is through to her third successive final at Roland Garros. So the immediate future belongs to Sharapova, but Bouchard is the only player to have made both Slam semis this year and her first Slam final cannot be far away. Just 12 short months ago, Bouchard was seen off by Sharapova in the second round here. Today she was playing as the youngest Roland Garros semi-finalist in five years, and it could hardly have been more obvious that this would not be a one-off visit to the last four at Roland Garros. In the first set observers were hard pushed to work out who was the debutante and who the old hand – even on the walk from locker-room to court Bouchard was a picture of relaxation, greeting well-wishers with a smile. And if she would have known anything, it was the importance of winning the first set. Before this fortnight began, Sharapova had lost just one match in 41 at Roland Garros where she took the first set. So Bouchard began as she had to, easing into the match and rapidly gaining confidence, forcing Sharapova into mistakes and finding the lines to break for 2-1. Sharapova levelled at 4-4, but went to pieces in the next with her notorious vulnerability to double faults giving a chance to break (not for the last time in this match). A powerful backhand beyond the lungeing Sharapova’s reach sealed it. At 5-4 Bouchard wobbled and had to save a break point, but recovered, crafting a rally which left Sharapova floundering in the wake of a backhand winner for set point. The Russian delivered a backhand return wide. But of course there is a parallel here with the old did-you-know about the first few minutes of a person’s life being among the most dangerous they will ever face (the punchline being that the last few minutes are pretty dodgy too). All well and good that Bouchard had the first set in the bag, but it’s the last set that counts the most. Coming into this match, Sharapova had won her past 18 three-set matches on clay, in a streak going back four years. The two traded breaks early in the second, with Bouchard committing the crime of a double fault to allow 1-3. But at 5-3, in a nine-minute game Sharapova devised assorted ways to allow four set points come and go, including two double faults. Bouchard grabbed her chance, forcing an error to put it back on serve, and reached the bridge head of 5-5. But Sharapova held for 6-5 and this time attacked Bouchard with all she had. She needed two more chances to take the set, but at last on the sixth chance in total her return was too good. With the match an hour and 45 minutes old, it was a set all.