Serena Williams will be out to end 11 years of frustration on Saturday when she takes on defending champion Maria Sharapova in a French Open final featuring the two top seeds for the first time in 18 years.
The American’s first, and to date only title win at Roland Garros, came in 2002 when she defeated sister Venus in a final she says she remembers nothing about.
Since then Williams has etched her name in the history books, taking her haul of Grand Slam singles titles to 15, just three shy of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who are tied for fourth on the all-time list. Five Australian Open titles, five at Wimbledon and four at the US Open, yet the French Open title count has remained stubbornly stuck at one.
On top of that, the Roland Garros claycourts and the French public have seldom been kind to the American, preferring the easy charm of Kim Clijsters, the pure talent of Justine Henin and the glamour of Sharapova to her perceived brash American character and style of play.
On the face of it, Sharapova, at 26, five years younger than Williams, has every reason to be worried over the outcome of Saturday’s showdown.
Since beating the American in the WTA Championships as a 17-year-old teenager at the end of 2004, she has lost to her 12 straight times, taking just three sets in the process. She has never beaten Williams on clay.
Asked if that long run of defeats weighed heavily on her mind as she prepared to compete in the eighth Grand Slam final of her career, Sharapova agreed that it did rankle.
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Saina stunned in Thailand Open quarters
Bangkok, June 7: Defending champion Saina Nehwal’s hopes of retaining her Thailand Grand Prix Gold title went up in smoke as she suffered a stunning loss to Singapore’s Juan Gu in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles competition on Friday.
The world no. 2 lost 21-13, 12-21, 18-21 to the eighth seed in a 53-minute match. This was Saina’s first defeat to the Singaporean in six encounters.
In the first game, Saina opened up a slender 4-2 lead but Juan continuously put pressure on her and caught up with the Indian at 9-9. The 23-year-old from Hyderabad then created a two-point cushion before she widened the gap and pocketed the first game 21-13. Juan came back strongly in the second game winning it 21-12. Saina led 5-2 in the final game and held the lead on many occasions in the game but Juan showed tremendous grit coming back each time to rattle the Indian and pocket the game and the match. — PTI