Ostapenko aiming to break through the Halep wall

I have to be focused for every ball.

Mixed in with her scintillating winners, including forehands faster than anything men’s world number one Andy Murray has managed here so far, were 45 unforced errors, some of which could have embellished a video nasty. “That helped me win today”.

The 20-year-old has come close to winning two titles this year, losing out in the semi-finals at Auckland and the final at Charleston.

“It is nice to be in the final again”, said Halep, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the 2014 French Open final.

“Tennis is not popular in our country because it’s a kind of expensive sport”, she said. “Sometimes she was getting a little too emotional”. Although Halep has more professional experience than Ostapenko, Saturday will be just the second Grand Slam finals of Halep’s career.

Hardly the sort of record befitting someone ranked No. 1 thanks to quite a string of successes a year ago, including a Wimbledon championship, an unprecedented second consecutive Olympic gold medal and runner-up finishes at the Australian Open and French Open.

The 5’6 player relies on her superior defensive skills, and can quickly switch from chasing balls to bashing them for winners.

1 Only one Romanian woman has won Roland Garros. A trainer taped up her leg; Bacsinszky took painkilling medicine.

Ostapenko converted her second match point with a forehand attack, her 50th victor of the match.

Should she win on Saturday she will be the first player since Justine Henin in 2005 to win a singles’ title at Roland Garros after saving a match point.

In the final against feisty Jelena Ostapenko, Halep will have to face a barrage of powerful shots being hurled at her.

She added: “Every match I was playing better and better and I’m really happy to be in the final”.

Halep cruised through her opening matches but has faced an incredibly tough run from the quarter-finals onwards. Halep, in comparison, has hit only 118.

The Swiss began the second set with a break, the seventh game the server had dropped out of the first 13 only to see Ostapenko square things up with yet another break. I just take it like a big day, a big match. I think more about the game, and I play smarter, in my opinion, and also physically.

Halep knocked out Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the semis.

Halep’s journey to this year’s final round also included wins against top competition. She will also rise to No. 1 in the rankings if she wins. She has renewed confidence and believes she belongs at the top. With Cahill back in her corner, she has been playing with a lot of self-belief and has managed to stay balanced emotionally even under vast pressure. “And definitely I’m ready for it, because I won many matches until now”.

The 20-year-old has been likened to a right-handed Kvitova for the way she hits her huge, flat, angled groundstrokes.

Comparing the two players and their respective journeys to the Roland Garros final you have to say that Simona Halep has all the pressure and expectation to deliver a first Grand Slam title and to repay coach Darren Cahill for the faith he has shown in the Romanian.

A year ago, on her first appearance in the main draw here, Ostapenko was beaten in the first round.