Tagger became the first Austrian girl to reach a junior Roland-Garros final and the first since Tamira Paszek at the 2006 US Open at any junior major.
She hopes to go one better than Paszek and recently retired compatriot Dominic Thiem, who made the boys’ singles final in 2011. In Saturday’s final, the 17-year-old meets British eighth seed Hannah Klugman, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Bulgarian Rositsa Dencheva.
The addition of former Roland-Garros champion Francesca Schiavone in her corner has given Tagger added confidence, as has a milestone win over breakout main draw singles surprise Lois Boisson for her maiden ITF Tour title little more than two months ago.
Schiavone, the champion in 2010 and a finalist a year later, has proved an invaluable resource.
“Of course, on clay court she is the queen,” she said. “For the game, she can teach me a lot on the clay court but I think it’s not about the game, it’s more about the mental part where she was also very strong and she’s teaching me a lot.”
