Day 12 and the ladies semi-finals day. Some great match ups on day 12 so a day which no one wanted to miss. The first semi-final was a cracker between unseeded Muchova and 2nd seed Sabalenka. The first set was tightly contested and ended up going to a tiebreak and it was Muchova who played the cleaner tiebreak. She won it on a beautiful backhand down line and she was a set up against the 2nd seed and a set away from a grand slam final. Muchova then carried on her momentum as she led 2-0 in the second set however Sabalenka regrouped and broke straight back. The set once again ended up going to a tiebreak and it was Sabalenka’s turn to take the tiebreak and we were heading into a deciding set. There was hardly anything between the 2 ladies as they headed into the final set. Sabalenka started the better of the 2 ladies and broke first which allowed her to control the set and she raced to a 5-2 lead and managed to conjure up a break/match point. Muchova pulled out a beautiful serve of which she got a short return which she put away for a winner to save the match point. She managed to then hold from that point on to force Sabalenka to serve out the match. The 2nd seed had been in this position a few times in her career but a winner from Muchova and 3 unforced errors from Sabalenka later and we were back on serve 5-4 and then 5-5. Sabalenka then looked to be holding serve at 40-15 up before hitting 2 double faults and then losing the next 2 points and now from 5-2 up she was 6-5 down and a break down. Muchova played a calm and clinical service game to win the match and book her spot in her first ever gram slam final.

The 2nd semi-final was between 2 ladies who had played the day before. It was number 1 seed, Swiatek, and 14th seed Haddad Maia. The first set was a comfortable set for Swiatek and it looked to be another easy match for the number 1 in the world. However Haddad Maia had other ideas as she broke first in the 2nd set to lead 3-1 before Swiatek brought it back to 3-3. The set then went on serve until it reached a tiebreak. Haddad Maia leaving everything on the line in every point she played. Haddad Maia then went up 5-3 in the tiebreak and hit a beautiful return just to miss the volley and the score was 5-4. Swiatek then saved a set point at 5-6 thanks to a unforced error from Haddad Maia and then brought about her first match point. Haddad Maia was not done yet however as she blasted a forehand down the line winner to stay alive. Swiatek however finished the match off with 2 forehand winners and she will be vying for her 3rd French Open title on Saturday.

Picks which lost on Day 12:
Sabalenka and Haddad Maia

Onto the Fantasy Leaderboard:
The gap remains 2 points between ‘Royal Roland’ and ‘Volley Vibes’ with ‘Royal Roland’ still leading the way. ‘Drop Shots’ had a great day as they moved up into a podium position and into 3rd spot. ‘Hawk Eye’ drops a spot and sits in 4th place just 1 point ahead of ‘Serves you Right’ who sits in 5th. ‘Team Kudu’ continues to occupy 6th spot while ‘Rolanding on a River’ drops from 3rd to 7th.
The wooden spoon has a new home as ‘Slider 2’ has been eliminated with the loss of Sabalenka. ‘Rolan Stones’ was also eliminated on day 12 with the loss of Haddad Maia but was 9 points clear of the wooden spoon position.
‘Calf Cramps’, ‘Wild Card’ and ‘Ms. Hits’ were also eliminated on day 12.

Matches to Watch Day 13:

• Alcaraz(1) vs Djokovic(3) (live)
• Zverev(22) vs Ruud(4) (17:30)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.