PARIS: Maria Sharapova defeated Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 to reach her first French Open final on Thursday, reclaiming the world number one ranking and moving one win away from a career Grand Slam.
The Russian second seed, twice a semifinalist in Paris in 2007 and 2011, will tackle Italian 21st seed Sara Errani in Saturday’s final, the first meeting between the two players.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be in my first final. I have been in two semifinals but it was always my dream of getting to the final stage,” said Sharapova, who will take the number one spot for the first time since 2008.
“That’s pretty special. After my shoulder surgery, my ranking was out of the 100 in the world, but I thought if I could be number one in the world before that then I could do it again.”
Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open champion, will become just the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam if she takes Saturday’s final.
But she admitted she is in for a tough contest against Errani, who defeated Australian sixth seed Samantha Stosur earlier Thursday to reach her first major final.
“It’ll be a tough final. She’s a great claycourt player and it will be a real challenge,” she said.
Sharapova, at an imposing 1.88m, and Kvitova, just 5cm shorter, both struggled for accuracy in the testing conditions on Philippe Chatrier court, where the wind whipped up the clay and helped balls sail out.
But it was Sharapova who quickly adapted her game, not hitting for the lines as is her strength and the tactic paid off.
Having batted back a break point in the fourth game, she broke the Czech for a 3-2 lead with Kvitova firing a powerful forehand drive beyond the baseline.
Italy’s Sara Errani crushed the French Open hopes of Samantha Stosur of Australia on Thursday, reaching her first Grand Slam final with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 win. If she triumphs on Saturday’s championship match against Maria Sharapova, she will be only the second Italian woman to win the French Open, two years after Francesca Schiavone’s breakthrough triumph and the first player ranked outside the world top 20 to win in Paris since 1976. “I have no words, it’s incredible,” she said.
“It was very windy and one side was easy and the other side more difficult. It’s an amazing feeling. I did not expect this and I can’t believe it.” (Agencies)