Women's Semifinal Preview: Pliskova-Halep and a pair of birthday girls

The Swiss and the Latvian have never played, but there’s no better time to begin than in the French Open semis, on both of their birthdays. Ostapenko will turn 20 on Thursday, while Bacsinszky will turn 28; those two ages might be a good barometer of how this match will go. The streaky, sweet-hitting Ostapenko will try to keep lightning in a bottle for one more round, while the more versatile and experienced Bacsinszky will try to find different ways to throw her younger opponent’s timing off. Ostapenko could hit her off the court, or she could do the same to herself. It seems slightly more likely that the steadier Bacsinszky, who was a few games from the French final two years ago, will find a way through.

Winner: Bacsinszky

Which women’s semi is more surprising—the one with the two players who weren’t expected to be there, or the one with the two players who were? Halep and Pliskova are highly ranked and a threat to go deep at every major they enter, but neither has taken the easy road here. Pliskova was pushed to a third set twice and has talked about unhappy she is with her game. Halep had to save a match point and come back from 1-5 down in the second set against Elina Svitolina in the quarters. Pliskova is ranked No. 3, two spots ahead of Halep, while Halep leads their head to head 4-2. They’ve never played on clay, but Halep, a finalist in Paris in 2014, should have the advantage. The key question may be how Halep's Wednesday match makes her feel on Thursday. Will her back-from-the-dead win over Svitolina leave her with nothing left, or will it make her feel bulletproof the rest of the way?

Winner: Halep

Holding Serve with Roger Federer will air on Thursday, June 8th at 2 p.m. ET, only on Tennis Channel.

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