Krejcikova battles past Sakkari in thrilling semi to reach French Open final

In the women's singles final at the French Open, Pavlyuchenkova will take on unseeded Barbora Krejcikova, who saved a match point in a dramatic 7-5 4-6 9-7 victory over Maria Sakkari.

The tension of the occasion was evident in the performance of both players and Sakkari was unable to capitalise on a strong start as Krejcikova fought back to claim the opening set.

Sakkari forged into a 4-0 lead in the second and managed to overcome her nerves to take it, with Krejcikova heading off court for a lengthy bathroom break.

Sakkari did not allow that to distract her and opened up a 5-3 lead in the decider, with Krejcikova putting away a swing volley to fend off a match point.

Serving for the match, Sakkari could not quell the nerves, though, and back came Krejcikova. The Czech then created three match points at 7-6 but Sakkari saved them all.

Two more arrived two games later, though.

On the first, Krejcikova celebrated thinking Sakkari had hit the ball out only for the umpire to decide it was in, but on the second the Czech guided a backhand down the line.