Sharapova to face Errani in Paris final

Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani will contest the French Open final tomorrow in what will be a first ever meeting between the two 25-year-olds.

Second-seeded Russian Sharapova won through with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fourth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, while 21st seed Errani of Italy ousted Australian sixth seed Samantha Stosur 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

The stakes could hardly be higher for Sharapova, who is already assured of regaining the world number one spot she last held in 2008 before a shoulder injury nearly wrecked her career.

The 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open champion, will become just the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam if she takes tomorrow’s final, her first at Roland Garros.

Errani will be playing in her first Grand Slam final.

A win would make her just the second Italian woman to win the French Open title after Francesca Schiavone two years ago.

Sharapova will start as a strong favourite and if she can reproduce the kind of form she showed against Wimbledon champion Kvitova, Errani could struggle to counter her power.

Sharapova and Kvitova both struggled for accuracy in testing conditions where the wind whipped up the clay and helped balls sail out.

But it was Sharapova who quickly adapted her game, not hitting for the lines as is her strength and the tactic paid off.

The Russian hit twice as many winners as Kvitova and kept the errors down to just nine despite the gusting wind.

It was sweet revenge for Sharapova, who had been beaten in straight sets by the Czech in the Wimbledon final last year.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be in my first final. I have been in two semi-finals but it was always my dream of getting to the final stage,” said Sharapova.

“That’s pretty special. After my shoulder surgery, my ranking was out of the top 100, but I thought if I could be no. 1 in the world before that then I could do it again.”

Errani halted Stosur’s bid to become the first Australian woman to win the French Open title since Margaret Court in 1973. Two years ago she was the first Australian to reach the final in Paris since Wendy Turnbull in 1979, but on that occasion she lost to Schiavone.

It was a similar task that faced her yesterday, pitting her weight of shot and physical presence against Italian guile and court-craft in the shape of the pint-sized Errani.

In what turned out to be a match of sudden momentum swings, Errani proved to be the more solid in the final set as the Australian struggled to keep her timing.

“It’s incredible for me. I didn’t expect it, and I’m here (in the final),” she said. “All the matches I played, I’m very happy for how I played because I think I made good games.

“But it’s not finished, so I have one match more. I have to think about that. That’s it.”

MIXED DOUBLES: Final – Bhu-pati/Mirza beat Gonzalez/Jans-Ignacik 7-6, 6-1.