Sloane Stephens downs Madison Keys to roar into French Open final

Sloane Stephens maintained her perfect record against fellow American Madison Keys as she blazed into the French Open final with a 6-4, 6-4 win on Thursday in a repeat of last year's US Open final.

In the first all-American Roland Garros semi-final since 2002, the 10th-seeded Stephens stayed composed throughout as Keys, who has not won a set against her in three meetings, peppered the court with unforced errors.

Stephens, who had never gone past the fourth round in Paris, will take on twice French Open runner-up and world number one Simona Halep of Romania in Saturday's final.

Regardless of the result, the 25-year-old Stephens will become the first American to break into the top five in the WTA rankings since Lindsay Davenport - Keys's coach - in 2006.
"It's always hard to play someone from your country and such a good friend, but I'm happy I played my tennis," Stephens said.

"This is one of my favourite tournaments and I'm looking forward to Saturday. Merci Paris, je t'aime." 

Earlier on Thursday, Halep reached her third French Open final when she stopped hard-hitting Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in her tracks with a 6-1 6-4 semi-final victory.

The Romanian, who will also keep hold of the world number one ranking as a result of the victory, made a flying start and was 5-0 in quick time as Muguruza made some wild errors.

Halep has been beaten in all of her previous major final appearances, including at Roland Garros last year by Jelena Ostapenko.