It’s not over yet! Sara has beaten Samantha Stosur 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 and she’s into the Roland Garros final! Amazing result for Sara of course, before this year she had never been past the 3rd round of a Grand Slam and now she’s in a final – singles ánd doubles.
At the beginning of the match, Sara was clearly nervous; the first 2 games went to Stosur quite easily. But then Sara started to play as well as she’s been playing all match, she levelled it up, and from there on both players held their serve, until Sara broke Stosur at 6-5, and served out the set in the next game. The second set provided a whole different picture for the match. Suddenly, Stosur was hardly missing any balls, and disrupting Sara’s game with hard and wellplaced shots. The third set however was much more like the first. Sara took a 3-0 lead, and even though Stosur came back to 3-3, Sara kept cool and just kept doing the same things in the points. At 4-3, she broke Stosur again, and in the game after that she served out the match. After the last point, Sara fell down on the court in celebration, and broke down in tears while her family and coach all looked very emotioned as well.
With this win, Sara is not only in her first-ever Grand Slam final, she will also enter the top10 on monday!
“I don’t feel like top 10 but now I will be so it’s a strange sensation,” Sara said about this, “maybe my problem before was I didn’t believe too much that I could win against the strongest players – but now I beat three in a row. So maybe I have to think a bit differently now.”
Sara’s own comments after the match:
“I can’t even describe what I felt after the match. I should stop to see what I did, but perhaps it is better not to because the tournament is not over. I can’t be too happy now, I can‘t stop. I repeat what I have said in recent days, the tournament is not over, I have to stay focused and charged. And then before the final on Saturday I have to play the doubles final with Roberta … “.
“To whom I dedicate this success? To all my family, who joined me here despite their superstition, until yesterday only my brother Davide was with me. To all my staff, my coach Pablo Lozano, the italian tennis federation, to my friends, everyone who loves me … I want this win to be theirs as well… “
And about what changed and will change for her now:
“The only thing I did, but I did this since I play tennis, is to train the best day after day, to fight as much as possible on the court against any opponent. Now I must continue on this road. But I do not want this to change me on the court or off. I am and always will be the same, Cichi …”.
Fellow Italian players Roberta Vinci, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta have all commented on Sara’s success; they all said they’re very happy for her and will be supporting her on saturday. On ubitennis you can listen to the comments of Roberta Vinci, but also to what her mum and dad had to say, and to the reaction of her fitness coach David Andres (I and II).
Sara’s own interview, with SuperTennis, can be found on youtube, while per pressconference is on the Roland Garros site, both in video and written.
