RG Pics: Pavs Preps for Paris Final

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ROLAND GARROS – A lot going on around the grounds with the increased capacity Friday.

Two blockbuster men’s singles semifinals. Two women’s doubles semis featuring last year’s singles champion (Iga Swiatek) and this year’s finalist (Barbora Krejcikova).

FOUR junior boys from France in the boys’ singles semis – thus ensuring that not only will the final be all-French – the champion will be French, too.

And in the middle of all that, quietly on Court 4 right next to a temporary padel court, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was preparing for her first Grand Slam singles final.

Here’s what she looked like.

It has been 15 years – almost to the DAY – since Pavlyuchenkova reached the Roland Garros girls’ singles final here, losing to Agnieszka Radwanska.

But Pavlyuchenkova won the doubles – pairing with Canadian Sharon Fichman to defeat Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki.

Radwanska and Wozniacki area already retired. Fichman retired and came back. And here is the Russian, finally getting to the place most thought she’d have gotten to long ago.