Krejcikova’s biggest match of her life

FOR a brief moment, an exhausted Barbora Krejcikova thought she had booked her place in the French Open final and she raised her arms in triumph.

Unfortunately, for the Czech, an incorrect line call by the umpire on match point put her celebrations on ice and she quickly realised that she had to do it all over again.

At 7-8, 30-40 in the decider of her semi-final against Maria Sakkari, the Greek hit a forehand that was called long by the line judge, only for the chair umpire to check the mark and call it in.

With the contest swinging wildly from one player to another, the momentum could have tilted back Sakkari’s way.

TV replays showed that the ball was actually out and Krejcikova, who is bidding to become the first Czech woman to win the title at Roland Garros since Hana Mandlikova in 1981, then saw off a game point before wrapping it up on her next, and fifth, match point for a 7-5 4-6 9-7 victory.

Krejcikova could easily have lost her composure after the umpire’s decision to rule the ball in, but the world number 33 barely protested.

“At that moment I was just like, ‘Well, it’s out, but what can you do?’ The chair umpire, he has seen it as in. What can I do? I cannot do anything about it. I cannot call anyone, change his decision.

“I was like … it’s fine. Doesn’t matter. Just let’s go.”

Today, Krejcikova will face Russian 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – six years after fellow Czech Lucie Safarova reached the final. It is a massive match for the 25-year-old.

“I always wanted to play matches like this. I always wanted to play tournaments like this, big tournaments, big opponents, last rounds. It was always something that I wanted to achieve. It was just taking so long,” she said.