I believe that all tennis fans today stretched their smiles while chills were rushing through their bodies as Maria Sharapova fired winner after winner from all over the court, displaying the game we all admire and the determination that makes her one of the most lovable personalities on the WTA Tour.

When at the age of only 17 Masha won her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon 2004 she though that life couldn't get any better, but now, eight years later, we can safely say that she experienced an ever greater achievement: completing a career Grand Slam on the surface she once considered her worst and after a serious shoulder injury that considerably took her game backwards, forcing her to reinvent her once powerful serve. For a long time it seemed the old Maria stayed in 2008 and there was no way out, but no, that was not who Maria was destined to be, and now she's not only larger than tennis, she's larger than life!

The big celebration started with champagne showers. Read more »

Maria Sharapova outplayed Sara Errani 6-3 6-2 in the final of Roland Garros 2012 and sat on the thrown overlooking the WTA world, with her regained No.1 ranking and her collection of Grand Slam titles.

Only a few of years ago Maria Sharapova considered herself a "cow on ice" when stepping on clay, but this year the dirt and the Russian became best buddies and the 25-year-old won the most prestigious claycourt title to become only the sixth woman in the Open Era to win all four majors in her career. Laser-sharp winners from all positions and angles brought the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in Sharapova's hands, as well as wide smiles to tennis fans around the world as it's a real joy to see Sharapova's best game shining after the scary shoulder injury.

Errani had no answer to Sharapova's numerous winners threatening from everywhere. The Italian did catch Sharapova unprepared with several drop shots, including one that saved the second match point, but they were few and far between compared to Sharapova's precise and intimidatingly fast groundstrokes. On her third match point Sharapova added the Roland Garros title to her awe-inspiring trophy collection featuring: Wimbledon 2004 (Masha was just 17 then!), US Open 2006 and Australian Open 2008.

Sharapova's trickiest match at the tournament was in the fourth round against Klara Zakopalova, while all the others she won without losing more than three games per set! Here's her road to the title: Alexandra Cadantu 6-0 6-0, Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-1, Peng Shuai 6-2 6-1, Klara Zakopalova 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2, Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-3, Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-3 (the victory brought Sharapova back to No.1) and finally the first meeting with Sara Errani 6-3 6-2.

Even though Errani cried after the loss, I’m sure that when the bitter taste of defeat fades away the Italian will enjoy the fruits of all that she has achieved in Paris this fortnight:

• Her first Grand Slam final in singles that came after victories over three Grand Slam champions, two of which triumphed at Roland Garros and one of which was a Roland Garros finalist – Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sam Stosur;
• Doubles title! Don’t forget that! Errani lifted the Coupe Simone Mathieu with Roberta Vinci with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova;
• Remained unbeaten on clay this season in doubles! Winning streak of 23 matches, including titles in Acapulco, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and now Roland Garros. Actually, her doubles winning streak on clay is 27-0, as it began in 2011.

Interesting fact: Sharapova has played seven Grand Slam finals, she won four and lost three, but all of them ended in straight sets. (photos: Ralf Reinecke, © Neal Trousdale)

After finishing a busy exam period, Omair, Women's Tennis Blog's well-known contributor specialized in stats, jotted down a statistical preview of the women's singles final at the 2012 French Open – Maria Sharapova vs. Sara Errani. Can the numbers reveal the Saturday's winner? Let's see!

If you asked a pick for Roland Garros finalist from the bottom half of the draw this year, everyone would have answered Serena Williams, given her record on clay this year – she had not lost a match coming into Roland Garros and in doing so she defeated Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, the world No.2 and world No.1 respectively, in straight sets. Very few people believed in Sharapova's chances as Williams was in her quarter of the draw and Sharapova has always struggled against Williams. But, Williams lost in the first round to Virginie Razzano! Sharapova let her racquet do the talking, and here she is in her first ever Roland Garros final. She had been to the semifinals of Roland Garros twice before this year, falling to Ana Ivanovic in 2007 and Li Na in 2011. The Russian made it third time lucky and now she is having the chance to become only the sixth player in the Open Era to have won all Grand Slams at least once.

No one, not even a single person talked about Sara Errani, who when entering this year's Roland Garros was the claycourt wins leader this year, and her only losses on clay (other than her Fed Cup match where she retired against Lesia Tsurenko) came at the hands of world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in Madrid and world No.5 Samantha Stosur in Rome. She was in Radwanska's quarter of the draw, the toughest draw any player could have (with two former Roland Garros champions and three Top 10 players). The toughest draw, her dismal record against Top 10 players (0-28, before her Roland Garros quarterfinal victory) and the fact that she had never even made it to the third round at Roland Garros in her past four appearances all spoke in her disadvantage, but here she is, in the final of her first Grand Slam.

Entering the final, Errani's 2012 win-loss record is 35-10, while Sharapova is 35-5 this year. Surprisingly, the two have never faced each other before!

Sharapova's losses this year have come at the hands of Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams, but Sharapova has not been the sharpest in the finals of Grand Slams lately. She was heavy favorite in the final against Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon last year, and then against Azarenka at Australian Open this year, but she lost both times, in straight sets. So what is the similarity here? Both Kvitova and Azarenka were first-time Grand Slam finalists, so is Errani, however, there is one difference, both Kvitova and Azarenka had made the semis of Grand Slams before that, while Errani has not (her best previous Grand Slam result was a quarterfinal showing at this year's Australian Open).

Errani's road to the final has been full of milestones she has been setting, entering into the third round and fourth round clashes and then her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, Errani was 0-2 against Ana Ivanovic, 0-5 against Svetlana Kuznetsova, 0-1 against Angelique Kerber (and more importantly 0-28 against Top 10 players), and 0-5 against Stosur respectively. She overcome all of these odds and obstacles in making her fairy tale continue.

Sharapova also set some milestones of her own, she made it to her first Roland Garros final and in doing so she regained the top spot for the first time in four years, since she last held it before her shoulder injury.

Will Sharapova crumble again letting Errani complete her Cinderella story, or will Sharapova crush the Italian to complete her Grand Slam collection? Let the numbers do the talking:

* An average of more than four per match, which means that she loses her serve at least once due to her double faults.

Errani only leads Sharapova in the double faults department, the rest of the stats go in Maria's favor. Good first serve percentage of Errani is neutralised by the percentage of points won on the first serve. Errani's second serve is a liability which shows in her stats as well, she has merely won 39% of the points played on her second serve, and given that Sharapova is a great returner, Errani will be in trouble. Read more »

Maria Sharapova beat world No.4 Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-3 in the French Open semifinals to reach her first final at the tournament in three tries and reclaim the No.1 ranking, dethroning Victoria Azarenka who's occupied the position for 19 weeks. Sharapova first became No.1 on August 22, 2005 and the last time she was No.1 was in 2008. In total, she spent 17 weeks on top of the rankings and from June 11, 2012 she will enter her 18th week.

There's another milestone Sharapova can reach in the French Open final: she will have a chance to complete a career slam (own a title from each major) and become the tenth woman in history to do so.

Sara Errani overcame a second-set slump to upset Samantha Stosur 7-5 1-6 6-3, winning 12 of the last 15 points of the encounter to reach the championship match of Roland Garros. As seed No.21 and a player that exited a Grand Slam during the first three rounds on 17 out of 18 occasions (she played the quarterfinals of the 2012 Australian Open), Errani is a surprise finalist, but when you realize that she's won the biggest number of titles on clay this season, with trophies in Acapulco, Barcelona and Budapest (16 straight claycourt matches!), it all makes sense. Read more »

Maria Sharapova rebounded from her chaotic fourth-round match and eased past dangerous Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-3 to reach her third career Roland Garros semifinals where she will face Petra Kvitova for a chance to reclaim the top ranking. Moreover, the Russian is now only two wins away from completing a career slam, having already lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. The fact that she's 3-2 against Kvitova and 2-0 this season against the Czech, including the 2012 Stuttgart semifinals on clay, additionally speaks in her advantage.

After the tricky match against Klara Zakopalova that lasted three hours and 11 minutes and featured 21 breaks of serve in 30 games, the second-seeded Sharapova continued in the fashion of her first three rounds, straightforwardly finishing the job against the 23rd-seeded Kanepi in 74 minutes. Read more »