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Kiki Bertens (Photo: Steven Pisano/Wikimedia Commons)
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Kiki Bertens (Photo: Steven Pisano/Wikimedia Commons)
Friday, 3 June 2016 - 14:28
Kiki Bertens the 7th Dutch to play a Grand Slam semifinal
Update 3:00 p.m. Berstens lost to Williams 7-6(7) 6-4
Kiki Bertens is the 7th Dutch ever to play a semifinal match in a Grand Slam tournament. The 24-year-old tennis player is playing against Serena Williams at Roland Garros on Friday, NU.nl reports.
Reaching the finals will be a difficult task for Bertens. Williams is the number one female tennis player in the world, the defending champion in Paris and has 21 Grand Slam titles behind her name. Yet after three games the score is 4-2 in favor of Bertens, number 58 in the world.
In 1968 at the US Open, Tom Okker was the first Dutchman to reach the semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament. He even reached the final in New York, where he lost to American Arthur Ashe. Okker also reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 1968, the Australian Open and the US Open in 1971 and Wimbledon in 1978, but never again progressed to the finals.
The first Dutch woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal was Marijke Jansen at Roland Garros in 1871. She lost against Ausralian Evonne Goolagong.