Romania's Simona Halep celebrates after her win over Spain's Garbine Muguruza. Photo: TwitterParis: Top seed Simona Halep reached her third French Open final when she stopped hard-hitting Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in her tracks with a 6-1, 6-4 semifinal victory on Thursday.
The Romanian, who will also keep hold of the world number one ranking as a result of the victory, made a flying start and was 5-0 in quick time as Muguruza made some wild errors.
Muguruza ratcheted up the intensity in the second set and broke in the third game when a powerful return forced an error, only for Halep to fight her way back to level at 4-4.
A marathon ninth game proved pivotal as Halep saved three break points to pile the pressure on the third seed.
Halep then seized her chance, moving 0-40 ahead and then raising her arms in triumph as Muguruza blazed a backhand long.
She has been beaten in all of her previous major final appearances, including at Roland Garros last year by Jelena Ostapenko.
Halep will now face Sloane Stephens in Saturday's final after the US Open champion beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-4.
Sloane Stephens celebrates after her win over Madison Keys. Photo: TwitterIn the first all-American Roland Garros semifinal since 2002, the 10th-seeded Stephens stayed composed throughout as Keys, who has not won a set against her in three meetings, peppered the court with unforced errors.
Stephens, who had never gone past the fourth round in Paris, will take on twice French Open runner-up and world number one Simona Halep of Romania in Saturday's final.
Regardless of the result, the 25-year-old Stephens will become the first American to break into the top five in the WTA rankings since Lindsay Davenport - Keys's coach - in 2006.
"It's always hard to play someone from your country and such a good friend, but I'm happy I played my tennis," Stephens said.
"This is one of my favourite tournaments and I'm looking forward to Saturday. Merci Paris, je t'aime."
