Maria Sharapova Wins Dramatic French Open Final over Simona Halep

Maria Sharapova Wins Dramatic French Open Final over Simona Halep
Mary Chastain

Another three-set victory. One more French Open title. And more screams of joy. 

Maria Sharapova won her second French Open final on Saturday, and she is making it look routine on clay. 

She defeated Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-4, in her third straight French Open final. Sharapova won at Roland Garros in 2012, but Serena Williams defeated her in the final 2013.

Sharapova, who has worked to drastically improve her game on clay, is now 54-4 on the surface since 2012 after struggling on it.

Sharapova and the feisty Halep, who has been compared to Martina Hingis and Justine Henin, provided one of the most entertaining women’s French Open finals in years. It is the first final to go three sets since 2001 and showed that Halep is a rising star in the tennis world.

The entire match was close, and it was not an easy victory for Sharapova. In fact, the stats were completely against her. She managed to win despite twelve double faults and 52 unforced errors. In the second set, Halep pushed it to a tiebreak and remained calm as Sharapova took a 5-3 lead. The little mistakes allowed Halep to score four straight points to force a third set. 

Halep wanted to speed the match up, but Sharapova used her savvy to keep the match at her pace during key points. In the third set, Halep went up 2-1 and had two break points, but Sharapova fought them off and even the set. She yelled out a primal scream. It was game on again, and Sharapova eventually slammed the door on Halep by winning the last game at love. 

Sharapova fell to her knees as Halep went to the chair and put a towel over her head. It was the Romanian’s first Grand Slam final and, from the looks of it, this may not be her last.

Here are some pictures and videos. Rafael Nadal will play against Novak Djokovic in the men’s final on Sunday at 9AM ET on NBC.

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