Roland Garros: Li Na Crashes Sharapova To Make History
Li Na stuns Sharapova to reach final
Li Na has become the first Chinese to reserve a French Open final berth after knocking former world champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
The 29-year-old Australian Open finalist needed one hour and 48 minutes to pass the Russian, who was also chasing her first French Grand Slam trophy. A very strong start allowed the seventh seed Li Na to break the eighth favorite twice and thus take a 3-0 lead. On the other side, Sharapova looked unable to come from behind, committing plenty of unforced errors which led to a poor pace. She could barely hold her serves and cut deficits to two points. The seventh game brought her the first break of the opener, only to concede another one right afterwards.
Li Na, by contrast, was looking very good, holding her serves consistently and dominating the Russian from behind the line. She played though more offensive than Sharapova, but could only convert two of five net points. As for the 24-year-old, the Russian came just three times to the net, but won a couple points the area. Sharapova, was also dragged down by 28 unforced errors, was left two games behind despite managing to break the Chinese in the ninth. Li Na won the opener on her own service to take an unexpected lead after 50 minutes.
The Russian provided a much better start in the second term, breaking the Chinese early in the first game and looking much more decided to break through. Sharapova went 3-1 adrift at one point, but another classic rally from Li stunned her. Her opponent, who hasn’t won any grand slam trophy yet, won four of the next five games, breaking the former leader in the eighth and leveling the score to 4-4. Even more then that, Li Na secured a minimal lead in the ninth after holding her serve.
Sharapova was thus condemned to hold all her serves to push the game into tie-break. Not only did she fail to do so, but the Russian even allowed her enemy to grab a late precious break and make the progress into the big long-awaited final. Li Na finished the game with three double faults, 24 winners, one ace and 23 unforced errors, while Sharapvoa’s performance included ten double faults, 12 winners and three break pints won out of 11 attempts.
The head to head series between the two have gone 5-3 to the Russian who has last defeated the Chinese at the 2009 French Open. On the other side, Li Na has won her third straight game against the Russian. She had previously beaten her at the 2010 Birmingham event. Maria’s next stop is the Birmingham grass tournament which is scheduled to start next Monday.
En route to the final Li Na has grabbed four straight-set victories and two tough ones. The Chinese has had a pretty nervous start. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova stole her opponent the second set, but then lost the match 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. The second term highlighted the Chinese beating Silvia Soler in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. Things went perfect in the third round when she ousted Sorana Cirstea of Romanian 6-2, 6-2, her biggest win of the tournament.
Finally, Li Na has grabbed two big wins from two double champions. She beat the 2011 Brisbane and Paris winner Petra Kvitova 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 and has picked a much easier victory from this season’s Miami Masters and Marbella events winner Victoria Azarenka, whom the Chinese eliminated in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2 in the quarter finals.
Said Sharapova: “It has been a good season on clay. I got to the semifinals here after not being in this stage of a Grand Slam for a long time… I still feel like I have a lot of work to do, but of course I’m going to come back and try to win.”
On the other side, Maria Sharapova had defeated Andrea Petkovic 6-0, 6-3 before going into the semis. The Russian started the French Open with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Mirjana Lucic of Croatian, while the second round brought her a hard win over Caroline Garcia whom she ousted 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. In the fourth term, she had beaten Agnieszka Radwanksa 7-6, 7-5. Unfortunately for the former champion, Sharapova ended her French adventure with a straight-set win.
Marion Bartoli and Francesca Schiavone are the next to fight for a place into the final. The are expected to meet for the sixth time, the head to head series being led by the Italian who has defeated the French four times. Bartoli’s only victory comes from the 2009 Dubai event.
Bartoli has grabbed three three-set victories en her route to the semi finals. The world number 11 has started the French tournament with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Anna Tatishvili. In the second round she beat Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, while the third term brought her another struggling win over Julia Gorges, winner of the Stuttgart event, whom she ousted 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Finally, she has reached the last four after taking advantage of Gisela Dulko’s abandon. The Argentine pulled over at 7-5, 1-0 down to propel the French into her first French Grand Slam semi final.
Her next opponent, Schiavone, has dropped just a couple of sets on her way to the final four. Jelena Jakovic was the first to steal a set from the Italian in the fourth term. The Serb conceded the victory in the end, being ousted 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Youngster Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova stunned the 30-year-old with an early rally in the quarters. The Russian, the 2011 Monterray winner, won the opener 6-1, only to concede the next two 5-7, 5-7.
Schiavone provided instead a very remarkable start, beating Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-0 in the first round and easing past Vesna DOlonts 6-1, 6-2 in the second one. The third term brought her a very easy progress after Shuai Peng was forced to abandon at 3-6, 1-2 down due to medical problems.
Roland Garros Prize Money:
Winner – 1,200,000 euro
Finalist – 600,000 euro
Semi finalist – 300,000 euro
Quarter finalist – 150,000 euro
R16 – 75,000 euro
R32 – 42,000 euro
R64 – 25,000 euro
R128 – 15,000 euro
