Yes, this is definitely the final which we have all successfully predicted before the start of the tournament. Eighth seed #AshleighBarty goes up against the rising star #MarketaVondrousova in a battle of the next generation in the final of the 2019 #FrenchOpen, which ensures that either one of them will get the opportunity to lift the first Grand Slam of their careers.
As unpredictable as the game is right now, little did anyone expect that we will witness the first player born in 1999 reaching a Grand Slam final. Czech powerful youngster Vondrousova stepped up her game and continued her stellar year as she continued to break new grounds, reaching new heights in her career. As a result, she cracks the top-20 and could leave Paris as the world number 11 if she were to leave with the title.
Tell a tennis fan that Barty will reach a tour final on clay, and that person will treat it as a joke. This year, she did not just reach a final on clay, but she did it at #RolandGarros. Her improvement on clay was rewarded with her first Major final, and she is projected to rise into the top-three in the rankings for the first time in her career. Being the highest-ranked player left at the semifinal stage, the title was hers to lose. If she ends her campaign on a high, she will leave as the world number two being just 136 points away from the top spot.
Road to the final: Barty
Barty just has something against Americans, right? The Australian brilliantly defeated five Americans en route to the final, which was essentially the entire USA Fed Cup team which was beaten by Australia earlier this year.
She leads the women’s singles draw with 35 aces to just 14 double-faults hit, and has impressively won 80 percent of her service games in the process. Barty became the only woman this year to reach the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, leading the tour in terms of the number of matches won.
She lost sets against rising stars Sofia Kenin and Amanda Anisimova, and the toughest test of her campaign came in the last four when she was forced to battle against the 17-year-old Anisimova.
Leading 5-0 40-15 after just 17 minutes against the inexperienced American youngster, Barty was slated for an extremely comfortable victory. However, she completely lost the plot as things turned out horribly wrong for the Australian, who lost six consecutive games within a blink of an eye and ultimately conceding the opening set in a tiebreak.
Losing 12 straight points to start the second set, Barty quickly found herself trailing 0-3 in the second set and seemed headed towards the exit door. However, it was time for her to rattle off six games in succession which eventually marked her remarkable comeback from a set and a break down to book a place in her maiden Slam final.
Road to the final: Vondrousova
At 19, Vondrousova is the youngest Roland Garros finalist since Ana Ivanovic did so in 2007. The last teenage winner of the French Open is Iva Marjoli, who was also 19 when she beat Martina Hingis to claim the title in 1997. Vondrousova can create history by becoming the first teenager since Maria Sharapova (2006 US Open) to win a Grand Slam.
It has been an outrageous season for Vondrousova, who has reached her sixth consecutive quarterfinal in this tournament. She started her Paris campaign with a comfortable straight-sets win over Wang Yafan before strolling through the rest of her matches to reach the second week in Paris for the first time in her career.
She met her toughest tests in the later rounds, having to face nemesis Petra Martic, whom she had a 0-4 head-to-head record prior to the tournament, in the quarterfinals. Facing her first set points of the week, Vondrousova handled it with composure and rattled off 24 of the next 27 points from 3-5 down in the first set. Amidst some challenges while crossing the finishing line, she ultimately closed out the win in straight sets.
Facing Johanna Konta, another player whom she lost to recently in Rome, Vondrousova came into her maiden Major semifinal as the slight underdog. However, she retrieved from 3-5 down in both sets to prevail and barged into her first Grand Slam final without losing a set.
Ranked 38 and unseeded in the draw, can Vondrousova pull off end her Cinderella run on a high, similar to Ostapenko’s two years ago?
Match Analysis: Who will lift their first Grand Slam title?
It has been such an outstanding run from both players and it would be so deserving for both to claim their first Major title on Saturday. It will an unfamiliar territory for both Barty and Vondrousova, who will step onto the court playing the biggest matches of their respective careers so far.
Barty leads their head-to-head 2-0, triumphing at both the 2017 Birmingham Classic and 2018 Western and Southern Open in straight sets against the Czech. She will come into this encounter as the slight favourite, but there is no way that it will be an easy match for the Australian as Vondrousova has been so dominant this fortnight.
Surprisingly, the final will be Vondrousova’s first match on Court Philippe Chatrier in her career while Barty had already played on the majestic court multiple times previously. The Czech may feel the nerves early on, as seen in her 10-point losing streak against Konta in the semifinals, but the same can be said for Barty, who collapsed after owning a 5-0 lead against Anisimova yesterday.
"It doesn't matter how you start, but how you end," as a wise person would say.
With that serve looking invincible, Barty has the edge in this encounter and I am leaning towards her to grab her first Major title and leave with the number two ranking in her bag.
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