The tournament was named after Roland Garros, a pioneer aviator who completed the first solo flight across the Mediterranean Sea.The surface of the court is attributed to be red clay,which needs special techniques to thrive on it. This year's French Open was action packed giving loads of puffing and huffing, agility, aggression, resilience and irking drive of athletes to grab a major Grand Slam.
Women's Double
Having won 14 Grand Slam Doubles together since lifting their first grand slam been the French Open in 1999,Serena and Venus Williams exited the women's double in the last 16 stage at Court 1. It was then a glaring moment for the Czech pairing, Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejeikova to grab a monumentorous victory at the Roland Garros. The Czech duo won the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2013 and wouldn't miss repeating a win in the final of the women's double in Paris. They dispatched the Japanese Duo Makato Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi to win 6-3 6-3 in 65 minutes.
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| Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejeikova beam smiles as they lift their second Roland Garros title. |
Men's Double
"Allez les Bleus" The men's Double also produced another spectacular encounter as the French fans hailed the French duo, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The duo who won the 2015 US Open and the 2016 Wimbledon titles flourished on home grounds to finish off No.2 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in a 6-2 7-6(4) fierce encounter.
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| The French duo,Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut lifted their first ever Roland Garros. |
The stage was all set for Romanian's Simona Halep and American's Sloane Stephens to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. After 12 months of loosing on the same ground in the French Open to Latvian's Jelena Ostapenko, Simona Halep was audacious not to taste defeat for the third time in the French Open final after loosing to Maria Sharapova in 2014.
Simona Halep defeated Angelique Kerber in the quarter-final and won from a close contest in the semi-final to Garbine Muguruza.
Sloane Stephens 10 months ago was ranked 957 but was seeded to be the world No. 10 as she entered the French Open. After dispatching Daria Kasatkina in the quarter -final, Sloane faced her fellow American, Madison Keys, in an edgy encounter in the Semi-final but Sloane cruised to the final ahead of her friend, Keys.
Sloane won the first set of the final but Simona with her aggression came from behind to win two sets making it 3-6 6-4 6-1 to hoist the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.Finally the World No. 1 won a major Grand Slam to her name.
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| Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep with their glittering trophies
Men's Final
The ' King of Clay' Rafael Nadal was set to win his 17th Grand Slam title and a record of 11 Roland Garros title. Dominic Thiem, 24, made it to his first ever Grand Slam final and had to play above normal to snatch the title from Rafael. After dispatching World No.3 Alexander Zverev in the quarter-final in a scincillating game which ended 6-4 6-2 6-1,Thiem gaited to the final after defeating Marco Cecchinato in the semis. Rafa trekked to the final on his favorite clay court after defeating two Argentines, Diego Schwartzman in a 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 fierce game in the quarter-final. Rafa, the 2011 Laureus World Sportman of the year overcame World No. 4, Juan Martin del Porto who defeated Federer and Rafa in the 2009 US Open in a 6-4 6-1 6-2 set.
Dominic Thiem who is an aggresive baseline player with an adept defensive ability proved to Rafa he was in for business. The Austrian is the second youngest player to play in the Roland Garros final, a record held by Nadal after winning the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2010 at age 24 on the same ground. Rafael Nadal stamped his authority on the game with a regal domininance to cling Undecima in a 6-4 6-3 6-2 set.
Rafael Nadal becomes the second player in history to win 11 singles titles at a single grand slam event, equalling Margaret Court's record set at the Australian Open. The Spaniard been an avid fan of Real Madrid Football Club made it 86 victories against 2 losses at the French Open. Nadal,32 has 17 Grand Slams to his name with Roger Federer accruing 20 Grand Slams.
20 days more to Wimbledon. Can Roger extend the lead?
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