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 )

Top seeds Serena and Venus Williams defeated seeds No.12 Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 6-2 6-3 in the French Open doubles final and became only the third doubles partnership in the history of women’s tennis to win four consecutive Grand Slams. The sisters started the succession with the 2009 Wimbledon doubles title, and followed it up with the 2009 US Open, 2010 Australian Open and 2010 French Open.

Not only did the Williamses win their 12th Grand Slam title together, and their second French Open one, but they have also assured to be ranked No.1 in the new doubles rankings. This implies that Serena will be top-ranked in singles and doubles at the same time, which is the feat that only five other women’s players managed to achieve.

Additional info: Katarina Srebotnik may have lost the women's doubles final, but she captured the mixed doubles crown with Nenad Zimonjic. (photo: © FFT)

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic cruised to a 6-4 6-2 victory over seed No.23 Daniela Hantuchova and advanced to the French Open quarterfinals where she will play the winner of the match between world No.107 Jarmila Groth and world No.36 Yaroslava Shvedova.

Slovakia’s Hantuchova had only one break point during the match, which she didn’t convert, and Jankovic was steadily moving towards victory. The Serb broke Hantuchova for a 5-4 lead and then won her service game to take the opening set. In the second set, Jankovic broke Hantuchova in the first and third games, then established a 4-0 lead, and even though she blew one match point at 5-2 on Hantuchova’s serve, she used her service game to finish the match. Hantuchova made twice as much unforced errors as JJ, 16-8.

Jankovic has a perfect 4-0 record against Groth, and 2-1 record against Shvedova, whom she will more likely play in the quarters. Shvedova defeated Jankovic in the second round of the US Open last year, after three sets and two tiebreaks. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seventh seed Samantha Stosur prevented four-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin from winning her 25th straight match in Paris and defeated the Belgian 2-6 6-1 6-4 in the fourth round. It’s Henin’s first loss at Roland Garros since 2004.

The 22nd-seeded Henin, who dropped a set for the first time in five years in Paris against Maria Sharapova in the previous round, nullified Stosur's serve to break the Australian twice and win the opening set 6-2. But determined Stosur came out strong in the following sets, and fought her way past the seven-time Grand Slam champion.

Last year’s semifinalist Stosur will play world No.1 and top seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, who defeated Shahar Peer 6-2 6-2. Williams struggled to hold serve at times and was broken twice by the 18th-seeded Peer, but made an impressive six breaks of her own to advance to the last eight. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seed No.19 Nadia Petrova survived three match points against home favorite Aravane Rezai in the third round, but her next match against second seed Venus Williams saw less drama as the Russian won 6-4 6-3 to advance to the French Open quartefinals. It’s Petrova’s first win over Venus in their five meetings (this fifth match was their first on clay).

In the quarterfinals, the 2003 and 2005 French Open semifinalist Petrova will play fifth seed Elena Dementieva, with whom she is tied at 7-7 in career meetings.

Third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki earned her quarterfinal berth the tough way as she played the longest match of the 2010 French Open so far to beat seed No.14 Flavia Pennetta 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-2. Wozniacki’s next opponent will be Francesca Schiavone, seeded 17th. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)