The Women's French Open Final is on Saturday and the two women standing are Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. Neither woman was expected to get to the Final, but after two weeks of intense tennis on the clay it is clear that both women belong on tennis' biggest stage, which is a Grand Slam Final.
For Sharapova, she has shown that not only can she win on clay, but more impressively has shown that clay might be her best surface! Clay requires patience and quality foot work while not rewarding players who only like to hit the ball hard to end points quickly. Sharapova has gone from being a player who was great on surfaces like hard court and grass but struggled on clay to being a player who might be best suited for it. Once you learn the patience and the quality foot work, having the weapons that Sharapova does like her strong forehand and power makes you even more dangerous. Her transformation has been incredible to watch and is truly a testament to her hard work and dedication.
As for Simona Halep, what makes her reaching this final so impressive is that nobody knew whether or not her World #4 ranking was legitimate. After backing up her run to the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a run to the Final of the French Open, Halep has shown that she is the real deal and not afraid of the pressures and expectations that come from being a player ranked so high. Her game itself I must admit I am less familiar with, but from what I have seen I can tell that she is really consistent, patient, and confident in her game. She doesn't seem to be afraid of the big moments and I certainly expect her to play well in Saturday's Final.
Before I make my prediction, let me give you some info on both of these competitors that would be good to know going into this Final. To get to this Final, Sharapova had to beat former US Open Champion Samantha Stosur, Garbine Murguruza who took out Serena Williams, and Canadian sensation Eugenie Bouchard. As for Simona Halep, she had to beat rising American star Sloane Stephens, former French Open and US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Andrea Petkovic who was coming back from injury and near retirement. As far as the paths both players took, I think both players had very similar roads. They both had to beat players who have won grand slams before and they both had to beat two budding stars from the North American continent. As for their head-to-head comparison, Maria Sharapova is 3-0 against Simona Halep beating her in Indian Wells, Beijing, and Madrid, which was this year. It should be noted that the wins in Indian Wells and Beijing were in straight sets on hard court, and the win for Sharapova in Madrid was on clay and went 3 sets. However, after dropping the first set 1-6, Sharapova came back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-3, so it isn't like it was really dramatic.
When considering the info above along with Maria Sharapova's overall success throughout her career, I have to pick her to beat Simona Halep to win her 5th Grand Slam title. Sharapova has won the French Open before and she has won 4 Grand Slams. It's hard to pick against her when Halep is playing in her first ever Grand Slam Final. With that being said, there is more pressure on Sharapova to win because she is the favorite. Halep is the player who nobody really knows much about, which could give her an edge because she can play more loose and relaxed. But that isn't enough of a reason for me to pick her to beat Sharapova. Ultimately, I expect this to be a competitive match since Halep has been playing so well, but I do see Sharapova coming out on top and continuing to add to her Hall of Fame resume.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @atp_guy
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