Isabelle Wallace and Jaimee Fourlis will battle for a French Open main draw wildcard after comfortably coming through their semifinal matches on Saturday at Roland Garros.
Paris, France, 21 May 2017 | Matt Trollope
In the final of the French Open Women’s Wildcard Play-off Fourlis will take on Isabelle Wallace, who brushed aside No.2 seed Lizette Cabrera in straight sets.
Fourlis won the AO Wildcard Pay-off in December and is on the brink of reaching the main draw in Paris; she was leading Rodionova 6-2 4-0 before the top seed pulled out, citing a hamstring injury.
She will hope to be healthy in time for the Roland Garros qualifying event which begins on Monday.
“It was a little bit (hard to stay focused against an injured opponent) but I kind of just kept it to myself and was thinking about what I had to do throughout the match and it didn’t really bother me,” Fourlis said.
“I’m really pumped, really excited. Can’t wait (for the final). Definitely I think having the experience of playing the wildcard playoff in December. and of course winning that, will give me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow, so I can’t wait.”
Wallace was far too strong for Cabrera in the first match of the day on Saturday, winning 6-2 6-4 against an opponent more than 200 places above her in the WTA rankings.
The Scottish-born Australian is enjoying a stellar 2017 season, having won 20 of her 26 matches including two $15,000 ITF claycourt titles in Mallorca.
And she continued that form on Saturday at Roland Garros to record a comprehensive victory.
“I think my game suits (clay),” she said. “I play left-handed with a lot of shape and not too flat or low over the net. So I think it really suits my game and I’ve had a really good start to the year as well.
“I thought I played really good. I thought I stuck with my game plan and my tactics. I got a bit nervous at the end but then I pulled through. Again got back to my game and got through.”
“Should be a good game (tomorrow against Fourlis).”
Original author: Matt Trollope