Francesca Schiavone is the Champion of French Open Tennis 2010

Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur 6–4, 7–6(2) in the final of Women’s Singles in French Open 2010 on Saturday. With this victory, Francesca Schiavone has become the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam title in tennis.

Though it was a direct set victory for Schiavone, it did not come easily. Samantha Stosur, who was also playing her first ever Grand Slam final, made it an entertaining affair. Especially in the second set, Stosur tried her best to take the match to the third set. The second set was decided in tie-breaker.

Francesca Schiavone did not face that much resistance from Stosur in the first set, but the Australia worked hard to make the task tougher for Schiavone.

Stosur’s defeat would definitely be disappointing for the Australian fans who were expecting to see another grand slam winner from Australia. Even Australian legend Margaret Court was full of praise about Stosur following her recent successes.

Samantha Stosur defeated a number of favorites like Jelena Jankovic, Serena Williams and Justine Henin in this tournament. So, she was favorite to win the final and the tournament title. Exhaustion could be a reason behind her defeat, but there is no way one can deny to give the due credit to 29-year-old Schiavone.

Champion Francesca Schiavone reached the French Open final after defeating 5^th seed Elena Dementieva and 3^rd seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi finals and quarter finals respectively.

Before this tournament, Schiavone’s best finish in a grand slam tournament was quarter final. She reached the quarter final of US Open 2003 and then achieved the same feat in Wimbledon 2009.

For Stosur, the best grand slam performance came in Australian Open 2006 and 2010 as she reached the fourth round in both tournaments.