By Chris Oddo | Saturday, June 7, 2014
Maria Sharapova won her second Roland Garros title with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 victory over Simona Halep on Saturday in Paris. Get our rapid reaction here.
Photo Source/ AFP
Maria Sharapova won her second career French Open final on Saturday, taking down Romania’s Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4, to claim her fifth career Grand Slam title. Sharapova becomes the first Russian (male or female) to win multiple titles at the same Grand Slam.
In the first three-set women’s singles final at the French Open since 2001, the Russian won her 20th consecutive three-set match on clay after dropping the second set in a tiebreaker.
Here’s how it happened:
Set 1:
A good battle in the opener, as Halep races out to a 2-0 lead, only to drop the next five to a big-hitting Sharapova. The Romanian would recover to take two straight, but was broken on Sharapova’s second set point when her forehand sailed wide. 6-4 Sharapova. Sharapova leads one set to love.
In the tunnel, ready for battle.
Halep breaks in the opener as a Sharapova backhand misses long. Then the Romanian plays a confident game to hold for 2-0, nailing a forehand winner to seal it. Meanwhile, fans of Simona Halep are still in disbelief:
Sharapova going for the ice wrap at the changeover, trailing 2-1. Sunny, warm day in Paris.
Sharapova breaks after a long game to level at 2-all.
Meanwhile, the obligatory complaints about Sharapova’s squealing start early:
High quality play, yes, but it’s Maria who has taken four games on the trot to lead 4-2.
Just like that it’s 5-2 Sharapova…
Sharapova taking her time on serve. Some believe a little too much time…
Tracy Austin with some high praise for Claypova during the first set – and well-deserved.
Sharapova breaks for the set, taking it 6-4, as a Halep forehand sails wide.
Not much disparity on the stat sheet. Sharapova hitting bigger, but we knew that would happen…
Set 2:
Virginia Ruzici, the former Romanian great, looks on from the player’s box, while Halep quickly falls behind 2-0 in set two.
The server is technically supposed to dictate tempo of play, but Simona does work VERY FAST. Who is at fault here? We’ll leave it up to the umpire…
The Sharapova title train makes a stop and suffers a break at 2-1, as Halep breaks.
Maria’s too slow. Simona’s too fast. AND NOBODY IS HAPPY. Meanwhile, Halep holds for 2-2 and the crowd is behind her with some big applause. Do we have a match here?
Sharapova weathers a rough spell to hold for a 3-2 lead.
The big hitting has intensified, finally bringing the conversation away from serving tempo/time violation and over to the match. *By the way, Neil, she’s a woman, but we get your point… 4-all.
7-time French Open champion Chrissie Evert in da house >>>
Point of the match? Nah, we say point of the tournament. Halep turns in a scrambling, running gem to earn a break point. Crowd goes wild, and the Romanian breaks for 5-4 on the next point.
Sharapova, undeterred, breaks in the next game to level at 5-all. Halep earns triple-break points and makes good on the third to break. She’ll serve for the second set a second time.
The pundits were pleased with the quality of this match. Were you?
A complaint about the war cries of Sharapova, or the commentators?
Meanwhile, Sharapova breaks to force a second-set tiebreaker…
Halep rallies to take the last four points of the breaker, clinching the second set as a Sharapova backhand down the line attempt sails well wide.
Stats after two sets:
Set Three:
A prolonged bathroom break for Sharapova after set two spurs more gamesmanship talk on Twitter and elsewhere.
After trading breaks, Halep holds for 2-1. But the highlight of the first three games of the third set was this >>>
We second that emotion…
The numbers favor Sharapova, but Halep doesn’t seem to care. Come to think of it, neither does Sharapova. They are battling and it’s 2-all in the third after the Russian holds.
C’est vrai, BG. Sharapova takes a 4-2 lead in the decider, but Halep hangs tough, holding for 4-3.
Sharapova plays a sparkling game, hammering a backhand crosscourt winner to break for 5-4. The Russian will serve for her second Roland Garros and fifth Grand Slam title.
Sharapova holds to love and she claims her second career Roland Garros title and her fifth Grand Slam title, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4.