Italian Sara Errani reached her first career Grand Slam singles final at Roland Garros after beating higher-ranked and 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur at the semifinal match on Thursday. After winning the first set, her game declined on the second to give Stosur the chance to even out the match. On the third set, however, she produced her best tennis to run away with a stunning 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 upset victory over the sixth-seeded Australian.
This is Errani’s first win after six attempts against Stosur and it was a sweet victory for the Italian as she fell to her back to celebrate the magnificent victory. During the postmatch interview, the Italian couldn’t describe the feeling.
Errani has a lot of reasons to celebrate but she’ll have to postpone that for now. Aside from reaching the Women’s Singles final, she also earned a finals berth at the Double’s event with Roberta Vinci. This is the first time since 2003 that a woman has made the finals for both singles and doubles event at the French Open. The last one was Kim Clijsters in 2003. Errani could emulate the feat of Mary Pierce in 2000 where the latter both won events.
The Italian will next face newly crowned world number one Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova outlasted Petra Kvitova in the other semifinal match played later in the day. Errani, meanwhile, is guaranteed a top ten ranking in the singles field by next week regardless of the result on Saturday’s final.
