When people were discussing possible favorites for the 2010 French Open, many players where mentioned, but Francesca Schiavone wasn’t really on top of anyone’s list. The world No.17 Schiavone won the battle of the first time Grand Slam finalists against Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-4 7-6(2) and became the first Italian women’s tennis player to win a Grand Slam title.
The seventh-seeded Stosur, who reached the final with high-profile victories over four-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin, 12-time Grand Slam champion and world No.1 Serena Williams, and one of this year’s top favorites Jelena Jankovic, started the match strong by winning her service game to love. Actually, until 4-4 players were good on their serves and there were no break points. However, in the ninth game Stosur’s errors gave Schiavone triple break point. Stosur saved two of those, but double faulted on the third one to hand Schiavone the game and soon after the set. In the second set, the 29-year-old Schiavone rallied from 4-1 down and took the clinching tiebreaker on her first match point to become the oldest woman to win her maiden Grand Slam title since Ann Jones at Wimbledon in 1969 at age 30.
Schiavone’s road to title: Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, Li Na (11), Maria Kirilenko (30), Caroline Wozniacki (3), Elena Dementieva (5) [retired], and finally Samantha Stosur.
Interestingly, Schiavone and Stosur met at last year’s French Open, but at the completely opposite stage of the tournament, in the first round already. That encounter was won by Stosur, 6-4 6-2, who went on to reach the semis where she fell to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. (photos: Stephane Martinache )
A wonderful surprise to have the “underdog” win the FO trophy. You are certainly correct to state she was under the radar. This is great for Shiavone and Italy!
Feel sorry for Stosur as she was the one with the tough draw (Henin, Serena & JJ). The press states that Stosur is the #1 women’s clay court player. Therefore; it was assumed that she would be the easy winner.
Thanks for your good write-ups and feedback on this WTA FO 2010!
Stosur had a terrible draw, that’s obvious, but Fran didn’t have an easy way either. As you wrote, no. 3, no. 5, no. 7 and no. 11. And the way she played the tie-break… She didn’t buckle under the pressure of Grand Slam final and definitely deserved her success.
El, I was rooting for Stosur, as she was the one who had beaten bigger names to reach the final. But still, it’s amazing that Schiavone won. It only confirms my reluctance to name the favorite, as many players could be the winners, there is no dominance nowadays, and no clear favorites.
Thanks for supporting my FO work. 🙂 Ok, I had some holes in the coverage, but it was because I had a very important exam.
No.37, yes, that crossed my mind, how she didn’t melt down in the final, like many other first-time finalists.
Wow, this French Open is full of surprises. Congrats, to Schiavone, but also to Samantha, she’s had a great run but probably run out of steam in the end, it seems. I think it is actually good for the women’s game that someone unexpected has won, it will motivate the other players to work harder.
Sorry, (sp) for the FO Champion (Schiavone).
Sometimes I’m not sure if you can only use rankings as the source for the best players. There are high ranking players that have never won a GS but due to playing numerous matches and going deep into a tournament generates the points.
We shouldn’t use only rankings. But they are decent indicators. If we forget about numbers and focus just on Schiavone’s opponents, it still looks like a difficult way. 3 tough baseliners and a big server in the final. With Fran’s playing style baseliners are always a threat, since she is not that good in playing long rallies.
Still, Sam’s draw was much more difficult. I just want to point out that Franny had a tough draw too.
Schiavone played well and deserved it nice to see two players who genuinely are happy for each other.
Was cheering for Stosur and she looked so broken at the end. 🙁
Wow…what a surprise. Never in my wildest dreams did I think she, out of all players, would win the title.
Great job to Sam. Big disappointment for JJ. She had the biggest chance, but could not reach it. I doubt she will have easy draws in upcoming grand slams.
Marija…How did u do on your exams? I know you mentioned it was very important for your career, so I am really hoping you did well. Were you nervous doing it? I am sure everything will go well. I Suspected you were in the crunch when you did not have the opportunity to write an article for a single day. Ahh, now you have freedom once more!
im so proud of sam and fran. amazing athletes and unpretentious players, unlike alot of wta players. of course i was rooting for sam, but im happy for fran.
cheers to two weeks of stunning tennis!
I didn’t think at all that Fran would win the title! Anyway, congrats for her. I like her, her playing style and her personality :).
Feel happy for Fran and sad for Sam at the same time!
this is off topic, but marija, if you want links to ana/flavia and other adidas apparel for wimbledon/us open series, let me know
jacob, I do 🙂
Maria:
http://www.prodirecttennis.com/prodinfo.asp?PID=PDT-303-009-585&DEPT=303&SS=1
Ana:
http://www.prodirecttennis.com/prodinfo.asp?PID=PDT-303-001-269&BRAND=1&SS=1&GROUP=WIM10WEDGE
http://www.prodirecttennis.com/prodinfo.asp?PID=PDT-303-001-270&BRAND=1&SS=1&GROUP=WIM10WEDGE
thank you 🙂
I don´t like Ana´s dress :/
Congrats to Schiavone and Stosur. They both did so well to get to the final and unfortunately there had to be a winner. Schiavone surprised us all, but she deserved to win. I hope both she and Stosur continue their success for the rest of the season.
Thanks for posting the links Jacob 🙂 Masha’s is gorgeous, as usual. Ana’s is nice, but like always for adidas, a bit plain. I’m looking forward to seeing the fashions at Wimbledon. It’s always the most special 🙂
That was the best Womens Final i have seen for many, many years! The quality of play, from both players, was an absolute joy to watch. Great to see so many of the points won by aces and clean winners rather than ue’s 🙂
I did wonder how nerves might affect the players as it was their first Slam Final but, thankfully, there was no problem there.
Cheered Fran all through, really hoped she would win it as, because of her age, it just might be the only chance she’ll get to win a ‘big one’ whereas Sam has age (and talent) on her side.
It was lovely also too see the sheer joy and excitement on Fran’s face at the end 🙂
FORZA FRANCESCA!!
Bb, I’ve passed 4 of 5 parts of my exam. June 23rd I have to pass that remaining part. It was very difficult for me, and hence stressful, because there were a lot of things to memorize.
Jacob, thanks for the links, of course I wanted them.