Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Click to share on Flipboard (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, he of the 70-68 fifth-set marathon with John Isner at 2010 Wimbledon, was beaned in the head by a shot from his doubles partner in the French Open semifinals on Thursday. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Mahut recovered to beat Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final. Mahut was hit 18 minutes into the match and left the court for a few minutes, according to Agence France-Presse. Herbert and Mahut, seeking their third Grand Slam title together but first at Roland Garros, will play either the Spanish team of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez or Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the final. OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us! VIDEO: Steeplechase barrier at wrong height mars Diamond League race<doc-sep>PARIS (AP) -- The Latest on the French Open (all times local): --- 7:50 p.m. French players Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut have won the doubles title at Roland Garros for the first time. With their Davis Cup captain Yannick Noah watching from the stands, Herbert and Mahut claimed their third Grand Slam title together by defeating Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the final. --- 6 p.m. Cori Gauff has defeated Caty McNally 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in an all-American final to win the girls' title at the French Open. Aged 14, Gauff was the youngest player in the singles draw. ''It was a tough fight, but at the end it was worth it,'' said Gauff after the match, which featured 15 breaks of serve. Gauff regularly trains at the academy set up by Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams's coach. --- 5:45 p.m. Sloane Stephens was graceful in defeat after missing out on the French Open title. The reigning U.S. Open champion led by a set and break before Simona Halep managed to turn Saturday's final around with her relentless energy to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. ''This is not the trophy I wanted but it's still beautiful, so thank you guys,'' Stephens said as she addressed spectators on Court Philippe Chatrier. ''To Simona, congratulations on your first Slam. It looks great on you. There's no one I'd rather lose to than the No.1 in the world, so congratulations to you and your team.'' --- 5:30 p.m. Simona Halep has lifted the French Open trophy and says she ''just tried not to repeat the same as last year.'' The strategy worked. In last year's final, the top-ranked Romanian led Jelena Ostapenko by a set and 3-0. She looked to be on the verge of claiming her first Grand Slam title on the Parisian clay, but fell apart and eventually lost to the unseeded Latvian in her second French Open final. The script was different on Saturday at Roland Garros as Halep rallied past Sloane Stephens and did not crumble in the end. Story continues ''I was dreaming for this moment since I've started to play tennis,'' Halep said. ''When I was down a break in the second set I thought 'Everything is gone, I'm gonna start to relax and enjoy the match,' and I came back.'' --- 5:17 p.m. Top-ranked Simona Halep has won the French Open by defeating Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. It is Halep's first Grand Slam title after she lost twice in the French Open final and was runner-up at the Australian Open earlier this year. Halep is the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy. Her manager, Virginia Ruzici, won the French Open 40 years ago. --- 4:36 p.m. Simona Halep has leveled at one-set all in the French Open final against Sloane Stephens, winning the second set 6-4. After losing the opening set 6-3, Halep found herself in trouble immediately at the start of the second as Stephens put her under pressure with excellent returns. Halep managed to save three break points, including one with a powerful forehand winner down the line, but the Romanian dropped her serve on Stephens' next chance when she could not properly return a clever lob from her American rival. But Stephens suddenly lost her focus to allow Halep back in the match. At 2-1 down, Halep broke Stephens at love, and then held at love to move 3-2 up. Stephens dropped her serve again in the next game after two consecutive mistakes, but Halep could not take advantage of the situation. Stephens earned three break points with a stunning forehand attack down the line and converted her first chance. Halep quickly regrouped, though, and held for a 5-4 lead after coming out on top of two straight well-constructed baseline rallies. A forehand attack gave Halep a set point in the next game and Stephens fired a backhand wide. --- 3:52 p.m. Sloane Stephens has won the first set 6-3 in the French Open final against top-ranked Simona Halep. Stephens, who has been serving well throughout the tournament, took the first game with a backhand winner. Halep leveled at 1-1 after coming out on top of a 25-shot rally but struggled to dictate from the baseline against her American rival, who moved confidently across the court and was excellent on the counterattack. Stephens had a break point at 30-40 in the fourth game and converted it as Halep sent a forehand into the net. Stephens then saved the only break point she faced when serving for the set at 5-3, 30-40, and held. --- 3:11 p.m. Simona Halep and Sloane Stephens have started their French Open final on Court Philippe Chatrier. The top-ranked Halep, playing in her third singles final at Roland Garros, won the toss and decided to receive. She is chasing her first Grand Slam title. Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, has lost her past four matches with Halep. --- 3 p.m. French Open organizers have paid tribute to Maria Bueno, who has died at age 78 after battling mouth cancer, with a minute's applause ahead of the women's singles final. The Brazilian was South America's most successful female tennis player, having won 19 major titles, including three Wimbledon singles titles and four US championships. Bueno was a dominant player during the late 1950s and 1960s. --- 2:45 p.m. Chun Hsin Tseng of Taiwan has won the boys' title at the French Open by defeating top-seeded Sebastian Baez of Brazil 7-6 (5), 6-2. The 16-year-old Tseng, who beat Australian Open champion Sebastian Korda of the United States in the semifinals, came back from a break down in the first set to claim his first Grand Slam title. ''Today I was playing really well on the baseline and solid,'' the fourth-seeded Tseng said. ''I think the first set I was a little bit tight in the beginning, and after I just enjoyed and relaxed.'' --- 2:30 p.m. Simona Halep will try to add a first Grand Slam title to her No. 1 ranking when she plays No. 10 Sloane Stephens in the French Open final.<doc-sep>PARIS — Virginie Razzano once spoiled Serena Williams’s French Open, producing one of the biggest upsets in the Open era by defeating Williams in the first round in 2012. But Williams had tennis’s version of the last word on this drizzly Friday at Roland Garros. While Razzano was announcing her retirement at age 35 on the same Chatrier Court where she once generated those shock waves, Williams and her big sister Venus were chatting on their way back to the locker room after winning their second-round doubles match over Sara Errani and Kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 6-2, on Court 7. As the years pile up, the Williams sisters’ peer group on tour continues to shrink. They won the first of their 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together here in 1999. Venus was 18 and Serena 17, and they defeated two other teenagers with sky-high profiles, Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 8-6, in the final. Kournikova, now 36, has not played on tour since 2003; Hingis, 37, retired for the third and presumably final time last year as a doubles specialist. All of the sisters’ other opponents in that 1999 doubles tournament are also retired — some long gone, like Lindsay Davenport and Mary Pierce.<doc-sep>When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up forfor news on the biggest players and tournaments Williams withdrew from the single’s draw just hours before her quarter-final tie against Maria Sharapova due to a pectoral injury. The American had only just returned to the game after spending a year out to give birth, but on her Grand Slam comeback she entered the singles and doubles competitions. Williams teamed up with sister Venus as they reached the third round. But the extra matches eventually took their toll after such a long absence and Durie questioned why the former world No 1 decided to play in both events.<doc-sep>
The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.