Follow along as men's singles and women's doubles semi-finals get underway in Paris
© Philippe Montigny/FFTWorld No.8 Casper Ruud became the first Norwegian to reach a Grand Slam singles final after posting a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over former US Open champion Marin Cilic on Friday.
The 23-year-old improved to 3-0 against Cilic and will vie for a maiden major title when he takes on 13-time champion Rafael Nadal, whom he knows well having trained at his academy in Mallorca for the past four years.
The first men's semi-final ended with heartbreaking scenes as world No.3 Alexander Zverev suffered a gruesome right ankle injury late in the second set to send Rafael Nadal into a 14th Roland-Garros final on Friday.
The pair were engaged in a brutal tug of war when Zverev rolled his ankle and fell in the 12th game of the second set, while trailing Nadal 6-7(8), 6-6.
The 25-year-old Zverev was taken off court in a wheelchair and returned a few minutes later, walking on crutches, to announce his retirement from the contest, which lasted three hours 12 minutes.
"Very tough and very sad for him," a sombre Nadal said on court.
"He was playing an unbelievable tournament. I know how much he's fighting to win a Grand Slam but for the moment he was really unlucky. The only thing is that I am sure that he's going to win, not one, but many in the future."
The marathon opening set lasted 91 minutes and saw Zverev squander a 4-2 lead in games, and a 6-2 advantage in the tiebreak, as Nadal saved four set points and needed six of his own to secure it.
Nadal, a 13-time champion at Roland-Garros, is celebrating his birthday today, and the 36-year-old is now one victory away from becoming the oldest men's singles winner on Paris' terre battue.
Zverev was a semi-finalist at Roland-Garros last year and was looking to make his second Grand Slam final, having placed runner-up to Dominic Thiem at the US Open in 2020.
A day after becoming the youngest women's singles Grand Slam finalist since 2004, Coco Gauff stormed into the doubles final alongside Jessica Pegula at Roland-Garros.
In all-American duel on Friday in Paris, No.8 seeds Gauff and Pegula downed their friends Taylor Townsend and Madison Keys 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour and 35 minutes.
The pair will face Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic for the title after the Frenchwomen saw off the Latvian-Ukrainian team of Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
This is the second year in a row a player has reached both singles and doubles finals on the women's side at Roland-Garros.
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTLast season, Barbora Krejcikova pulled off the double, clinching both titles.
Pegula, who reached the quarter-finals in singles before falling to Iga Swiatek on Wednesday, is hoping Gauff can walk away with two trophies this weekend.
“I told her, ‘Freakin' semis in singles and doubles, we need the final of both, then go for the sweep’. That would be awesome," said Pegula on Wednesday.
This is Gauff's second Grand Slam doubles final appearance, having finished as runner-up at the US Open last year.
© Corinne Dubreuil/FFT
ROLAND-GARROS
20 May - 9 June 2024
