PARIS, June 7: Maria Sharapova defeated Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 to reach her first French Open final on Thursday, reclaiming the world No 1 ranking and moving one win away from a career Grand Slam.
The Russian second seed, twice a semi-finalist in Paris in 2007 and 2011, will tackle Italian 21st seed Sara Errani in Saturday's final, the first meeting between the two players.
“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, who will retake the No 1 spot for the first time since 2008.
Sharapova, 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 Saturday's final.
Errani crushed the hopes of Samantha Stosur of Australia in the first semi-final earlier, reaching her first Grand Slam final with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 win.
If she triumphs on Saturday she will be only the second Italian woman to win the French Open, two years after Francesca Schiavone's breakthrough triumph and the first player ranked outside the world top 20 to win in Paris since 1976.
US Open champion Stosur was bidding 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 in straight sets to Schiavone.
It was a similar task that faced her on Thursday, pitting her weight of shot and physical presence against Italian guile and court-craft in the shape of the pint-sized Errani.
She had won their five previous encounters.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding): Women’s singles: Semi-finals: 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt 4-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-3; 21-Sara Errani (Italy) bt 6-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
Men's doubles: Semi-finals: 2-Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (US) bt 10-Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan)/Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6); 1-Maxi Mirnyi (Belarus)/Daniel Nestor (Canada) bt 14-Daniele Bracciali/Potito Starace (Italy) 6-3, 6-4.
Women’s doubles: Semi-final: 7-Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt 5-Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Wednesday’s remaining results: Men’s singles: Quarter-final: 6-David Ferrer (Spain) bt 4-Andy Murray (Britain) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2.
Mixed doubles: Semi-final: Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (Poland)/Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) bt 5-Elena Vesnina (Russia)/Leander Paes (India) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.—Agencies