Women’s Singles
Quarter finals
Amanda Anisimova defeated defending champion Simona Halep (3)
A major upset, as the American teenager thrashed the highest ranked player remaining in the draw, and ensured that this years champion would be a new addition to the list of female singles major winners.
17 year old Anisimova is the youngest semi finalist at Roland Garros since Nicole Vaidsiova in 2006, and the first semi finalist at a Grand Slam tournament born in the 21st century.
Ashleigh Barty (8) defeated Madison Keys (14) 6-3 7-5, and will play Amanda Anisimova in the semis.
Ash Barty is now world ranked #4 (live), and a win over Amanda Anisimova in the Roland Garros semis would change that to #3. A title win would see her move to #2, a mere 136 points behind Naomi Osaka.
In the 2019 Porsche WTA Race, Ash is also #4. If she makes the final in Paris, she will become #2, and if she lifts the trophy, Ash will lead the race, over 600 points clear of Petra Kvitová in second place.
Following the women’s semis, the powers that be were responsible for ignorant scheduling, and it’s another glaring example of the interests of women’s tennis thrown to the scrap heap - it was ok to separate quarter finals between Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court Suzanne-Lenglen (one Men’s Singles and one Womens Singles to each) on both Tuesday and Thursday, but at the critical semi final stage the women were designated second class citizens. Both semis were pushed to outside courts, when one mof the men’s semis should have been scheduled for Court Suzanne-Lenglen, maybe the Djokovic / Thiem clash, because Nadal is defending champion and deserves centre court.
If Simona Halep had made the semis, as defending women’s champion, she would have also deserved that court. However, she is gone and with it any respect by organisers for those four women remaining.
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