Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Credits: EuroSport)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made it to her first ever Grand Slam Final at the 2021 French Open
Pavlyuchenkova defeated Tamara Zidanšek of Slovenia in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) at the semi-finals of the French Open, 2021.
The Russian looked in her element today as she reached her first-ever Grand Slam Final after being in the pro-scene since 2005.
After going down fighting in the first set, the Slovenian tried to come back in the second, but a series of unforced errors and slick forehands from Pavlyuchenkova pegged her back.
Pavlyuchenkova will now meet the winner of the second semi-final between Maria Sakkari of Greece and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.
She also did her country proud by becoming the first Russian woman to reach a Grand Slam final since Maria Sharapova at the 2015 Australian Open. Sharapova is also the last Russian woman to win the French Open.
The former world junior no.1, hadn’t made past the quarterfinals of any of the Grand Slams. At the age of 29, she has finally struck rich.
Here is how Maria Sharapova and others reacted to Pavlyuchenkova making it to her first Grand Slam final:
On reaching the final, Pavlyuchenkova became the first woman to feature in more than 50 majors before reaching a Grand Slam final. It came in her 52nd attempt.
The previous record was held by Italy’s Roberta Vinci who reached her first final at US Open 2015 after 44 major appearances.
Pavlyuchenkova will be hoping to carry her form into the final, and win her first Grand Slam title.
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