Well is this the moment for Simona Halep? Will she finally get that elusive Grand Slam title on the board? A couple of years ago she was the hottest ticket on the WTA and in 2014 she battled with Maria Sharapova in the final of the French Open, but came out on the losing end of things after a titanic three-setter. But then she failed to live up to expectations since then, appearing to succumb to the pressure of expectation.
But now she is back on the threshold of getting a Grand Slam title on the board and reaching the top of her game. She has had a great season on clay and has put in some tremendously resilient showings in the last two rounds of Roland Garros this year. She had to fight back from a set down and looking totally down and out in the second at 5-1 behind in her quarter final match against Elina Svitolina. It was remarkable comeback having fought off a match point against the fifth seed.
Then she found herself under pressure in the semi finals in taking on number two seed Karolina Pliskova. After taking the first set, Halep couldn’t handle the pressure that Pliskova was throwing at her and the momentum looked to have fully shifted to her opponent. But Halep dug deep again and pulled out the final set and so now she sets up something of a surprise final in taking on the unseeded Jelena Ostapenko. There are no longer question about Halep’s mental ability when the going gets tough, clearly.
Simona Halep v Jelena Ostapenko Betting Odds
Simona Halep 3/10, Jelena Ostapenko 11/4
Halep is trading as 3/10 odds favourite at bet365 to win the title because she has the clay form plus she has the experience of having gone through this before. For her opponent, this will be the biggest game of her career by a long shot. Not only is the French Open title up for grabs for Simona Halep in this one, but if the Romanian wins then she will take over as World Number One from Angelique Kerber, who crashed out in the first round.
Ostapenko, who just had her 20th birthday on Thursday is 47th in the world and has not won a title of any kind. She has really taken her chance in an open draw and in the quarter finals, there was not former Grand Slam champion for the first time since 1977. That’s how open it was. Ostapenko is a former Wimbledon junior champion and the Latvian just brings an all-out attacking game to the table, having beaten the likes of Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki and then Timea Bacsinszky in the semi final.
Ostapenko has a remarkable stat in having hit more winners in this seasons’ tournament than any other player in either the men’s or women’s draw. But on the other side of the coin, she has amassed a staggering amount of unforced errors in the tournament, 217 of them. So she is up and down and faces Halep who has won 15 WTA titles and who has been a professional for eleven years. This is a massive occasion for a young player to have come from nowhere to reach the final of one of the sport’s biggest four titles.
Perhaps Ostapenko’s time will come in the future, but Halep is running as the outright favourite for this match and this is where she can make up for those other missed opportunities. Halep is 8/11 to win 2-0 in Set Betting at Bet365 while she is 11/4 to take an 11/4 win. Both have had their ups and downs in the tournament but you would have to side with the experience of Halep in the final showdown.
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