Maria Sharapova wins French Open after three-set Simona Halep battle
Maria Sharapova wins French Open after three-set Simona Halep battle, People do not come to see beautiful tennis when Maria Sharapova plays.
They come to see a woman who is undeniably beautiful suffer for her art. Nobody does it so loudly or passionately. Few do it so efficiently. And, in winning her second French Open title, the Russian played as cold-bloodedly as she has ever done in resisting the worthy challenge of young Simona Halep in three gripping sets.
Halep is the first Romanian to reach a slam final since her manager, Virginia Ruzici, lost to Chris Evert here 34 years ago, and the tears welled when the crowd stood to acclaim her fighting performance with chants of “Si-mo-na!” at the end.
But the day belonged to her conqueror, and Halep, the world No3, knew she would get no accommodation of sentiment from Sharapova, who won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, to add the 2014 trophy to the one she lifted two years ago and maybe erase some of the pain she felt when beaten by Serena Williams last year.
After what sounded like a rendition of the entire Russian national anthem, Sharapova said: “You’ve had an unbelievable two weeks, Simona. Congratulations. I’m so emotional right now I don’t know what language to speak, English, French, Russian. But to be able to have the chance to stand on this stage on two occasions is incredible for me.”
It was a lovely speech after a brutal final. On that mythical scale of who would you trust to fight for your life in a game of tennis, Sharapova would rank very highly – ahead of Fabio Fognini, say. But not on her serve. And, sure enough, in the very first game the Russian slammed down her 32nd double fault of the tournament to go four clear of the field before adding 11 more over the next three hours.
Yet she prevailed, winning the last eight points of the match after flirting with disaster because of her unreliable serve. She is a marvel.
Sharapova does most of the sport’s tasks very well, but none to the level of dominance that, say, Williams achieves across the board. The bedrock of her game is her iron will. To call on it, she goes through her rituals – stepping over the white lines, turning her back on her opponent’s serve – to the point of irritation (she was belatedly and correctly docked a point for slow serving at the start of the third set, having already spent an eternity in the locker room during the break).
She cares not. She is in another world, except it is one she shares with her adoring public, every grimace and fist pump monitoring her fluctuating emotions.
Enough of those free points on her shaky serve arrived at key moments to make a difference but not quite enough. One game, the ninth in the second set, summed up her doggedness, when withering ground strokes that even the quick-witted, slick Halep could not reach cancelled out three double faults. She did the same to stop a streak of six straight breaks between them for 2-2 in the third.
Rafael Nadal told John McEnroe before the match he thought Halep would win if she could control her nerves; he made no mention of Sharapova’s mental strength because it is renowned throughout the game. Yet it was the four-times winner of a grand slam event whose racket hand was shaking in the early exchanges and various other key points.
Halep, 22, really does look at home on the big stage, a well-prepared athlete with excellent foot speed, good anticipation and the ease of execution familiar to all champions. She rarely looks off balance, even on the few occasions when she is sent the wrong way (as when she slipped and recovered at advantage point in the fifth game of the first set). It is a precious gift.
There was no hint of the suggested stage fright, either. After mis-hitting an early forehand, she nonchalantly twirled her racket, one-handed, like a gunslinger reholstering a smoking six gun. It screamed composure, which sometimes had been missing from her game earlier in the tournament.
Sharapova’s had been a more arduous path to the final, her six wins taking 10 hours, three-and-a-half hours longer than Halep needed, but the Russian was energised by the glint of sunlight on the trophy. In the absence of Williams, whom she simply cannot beat, she knew she probably would not have a better chance to succeed her as French champion.
Since she beat Sara Errani here in 2012, Sharapova has had a golden run, losing only to Williams and Ana Ivanovic on clay.
As they went deeper into the contest, however, the feeling grew that, if Halep could force a third set, she might have the besting of Sharapova – and the fierceness in her shots suggested Sharapova thought so too. Although she had won three three-setters in a row to get here, she wanted to get this kid out of here.
They got to a tiebreak, where Halep held her nerve in the shootout and the stadium roared for the extra entertainment.
There was nothing much in it until the 35th minute of the final set, when Sharapova, defending frantically, broke for 3-2. Halep, for the first time, looked vulnerable. The Sharapova points began to flow. The prospect of victory added zest to her every move and stroke. Then Halep, seemingly spent, dug deep to break back for 4-4, aided by another two double faults.
But Sharapova countered in a twinkling, breaking to love, then closed it out without mercy. It was a great final – and it won’t be Halep’s last. “This one will be special for me all my life,” she said in her brilliantly simple way.
