Francesca Schiavone vs. Li Na – Final Preview: French Open 2011
Women’s final show down at Roland Garros is all set, as world number five, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, meets the sixth seeded Chinese, Li Na in the battle for glory. The grand finale will take place at the Court Philippe Chatrier
in Paris, France, on Saturday, June 4th with the two top class players competing against each other for the prestigious Susan Lenglen trophy.
The defending champion, Schiavone, has been the most dominant force in the entire tournament so far and has ravaged every single competitor she faced en route to the final. 30-year-old Italian veteran has displayed her magnificent
clay-court tennis skills throughout her French Open campaign and blew away the 11th seed home favourite, Marion Bartoli, in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, in the semi-final on Thursday.
Schiavone’s aggression has been totally unstoppable in the tournament, as she won five of her six tournament matches in straight sets, disposing off her opponents with complete authority. The Italian was the women’s champion last
year at Roland Garros and her sublime form this year clearly depicts that the French Open trophy will fell to her name once again.
The other finalist, Li Na, has again beaten all the odds to reach her second consecutive Grand Slam final of the year. Li Na is the first Chinese ever to make it into the final of a women’s Grand Slam event twice, as she was the
finalist at the Australian Open 2011 as well. Unfortunately she lost to the world number two, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, in the final of the Australian but she certainly desires to put up a better performance against Schiavone this time round.
Li Na has been in blistering form throughout the French Open this year and has defeated a number of top class players en route to the final, including the ninth seed Petra Kvitova, world number four Victoria Azarenka and the former
world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia. Her current form hints that the Chinese is well on her way to claim the French Open title from Schiavone and become the first women from her country to win a Grand Slam tournament.
The 29-year-old Chinese had a terrific semi-final matchup against the seventh seed hot favourite, Sharapova, beating her convincingly in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, to power her way to the grand finale. Li Na will certainly get huge
confidence after her semi-final victory over one of the strongest contender for the championship title and will desire to carry forward her winning momentum against Schiavone as well.
The both women last met on the same venue, in the round of 32 at Roland Garros in 2010, where Schiavone registered a comprehensive straight sets victory 6-4, 6-2, and then went on to bag the title. Li Na will be under some pressure
as she has suffered a defeat from the Italian on the similar venue last year, which was the only clay-court match she played against Schiavone in her career.
Although the defending champion is the hot favourite for taking the French Open title, the Chinese opponent won’t the opportunity go that easy and will pose some serious resistance to her opponent.
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