French Open Women’s Final Open Thread: Serena Williams v Maria Sharapova
Two of the most popular women’s sporting athelets in the world meet this afternoon for the French Open title. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both commonly seek a second French Open title.
Serena leads his Russian rival 13-2 winning 12 straight and all three meetings on clay. Sharapova hasn’t beaten Serena since 2004.
WTA Notes:
The final features world No.1 Serena Williams vs. world No.2Maria Sharapova…
…it is the first No.1 vs. No.2 final at ROLAND GARROS since 1995 (No.2 Graf d. No.1 Sanchez-Vicario 75 46 60)
…it is the first No.1 vs. No.2 final at ANY SLAMsince 2004 Australian Open (No.1 Henin d. No.2 Clijsters 63 46 63)
In the Open Era, the No.1 seed has won the title at Roland Garros 16 times; the No.2 seed has won 12 times.
In the Open Era, the Top 2 seeds havemet in the final 11 times, with the No.2 seed winning 7 times (most recently 1995).
In the last 20 years (1994 onwards), the top seed has won the Roland Garros title twice: Graf (1996) and Henin (2007).
This compares to eight times at the Australian Open, six times at Wimbledon and five times at the US Open.
Players representing 15 different countries have won the title at Roland Garros. Williams is the first American through to the Roland Garros final since she defeated sister Venus in the 2002 final.
Williams (2002) and Sharapova (2012) are former Roland Garros champions. The winner will be the 8th player in Open Era to win multiple Roland Garros titles.
Williams is competing in her 20th career Grand Slam final (15-4 in F) and is the fourth woman in the Open Era to have reached 20 Grand Slamfinals. Sharapova is playing in her eighth (4-3 in F).
This will be the 4th time the current world No.1 and No.2 hav emet head-to-head this year. From 2005-2011 the Top 2 met head-to-head a total of three times. Since the start of 2012, this will be the eighth No.1 vs. No.2 meeting.
Among active players, Williams owns the most match wins at Roland Garros (45), while Sharapova owns the
best match win percentage at Roland Garros (.827).
[1] SERENA WILLIAMS (USA #1) vs. [2] MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS #2)
Williams leads 13-2 (Hard: 8-1; Clay: 3-0; Grass: 2-1)
Serena…
Currently on a career-best 30-match win streak (incl. SF here).
Contesting her 20th career Grand Slam final. Owns a 15-4 win-loss record in Grand Slam finals. Her only losses have come at 2001 US Open (l. V.Williams), 2004 Wimbledon (l. Sharapova), 2008 Wimbledon (l. V.Williams) and 2011 US Open (l. Stosur)
Playing her 2nd career Roland Garros final. Won the title on her final debut here in 2002 (d. V.Williams)
Bidding to become only the fourth woman in the Open Era to win each Grand Slam at least twice (Evert, Graf, Navratilova)
This is her 68th career singles final. She owns a 50-16 win-loss record (with one of her 51 titles coming via walkover)
Owns 8 career claycourt titles (is 8-2 in claycourt finals). Bidding to improve to equal second for most claycourt titles among active players (Medina Garrigues – 10, V.Williams – 9).
Sharapova…
Contesting her eighth career Grand Slam final (4-3 record). Her three losses came at: 2007 Australian Open (l. S.Williams), 2011 Wimbledon (l. Kvitova), 2012 Australian Open (l. Azarenka).
Playing her second career Roland Garros final, as defending champion. Bidding to become first player to defend title at Roland Garros since Henin in 2007.
Currently on a 13 match winning streak at this tournament.
Has become first player since Schiavone to reach back-to-back Roland Garros singles finals (2010-11), and eleventh player in the Open Era to advance to the final in the year of their title defense.
In the Open Era, five players have defended their Roland Garros title on 10 occasions.
SATURDAY FRENCH OPEN SCHEDULE
3:00 PM Start Time
1. Women’s Singles – Final
Serena Williams (USA)[1] v. Maria Sharapova (RUS)[2]
2. Men’s Doubles – Final
Bob Bryan (USA)[1] v. Michael Llodra (FRA)
Mike Bryan (USA)[1] Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
WEATHER.COM PARIS FORECAST
High of 77F, late day showers.
BET AT HOME ODDS
Serena Williams 1.15 vs Maria Sharapova 5.00
US TV SCHEDULE
NBC will have live coverage of the match starting at 9am ET.
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