Passion pouring from her as visibly as perspiration, Francesca Schiavone continued her committed French Open love affair in style. The reigning Roland Garros champion dismissed Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-3, concluding her semifinal win with a victory leap and a kiss of the terre battue.
Schiavone started last year’s tournament as a 17th-seeded long shot and as the first Italian woman to win a major title. The improbable titlist has embraced the challenge of defending with exuberance, running her Roland Garros winning streak to 13 matches. The fifth seed this year, she dissected Bartoli and dampened the enthusiasm of fans eager to see the first French finalist since Mary Pierce in 2005.
Facing Schiavone’s assortment of ever-changing spins and speeds can be as disorientating as trying to apply make-up while staring at a fun-house mirror. Schiavone is fit, fast, plays with finesse and is comfortable moving forward to punctuate points at the net, all assets that make her game conducive to clay. She applied her all-court skills—and masterfully navigated a swirling wind that occasionally stirred up red clouds—to force Bartoli into hitting uncomfortable shots from awkward positions on the court. One moment, Bartoli was bending low to scoop a slithering slice off her shoelaces, only to be forced backward to confront a heavy topspin forehand catapulting above her shoulders on the very next shot.
“The wind advantage (was with) me and with the topspin it was not easy for her,” Schiavone told ESPN. “But she has good timing so I had to open the court and go to the net when I could.”
Neither player permitted a break point through the first seven games, but Bartoli blew a 40-15 lead in the eighth game. Hurling her body behind a backhand winner, Bartoli saved the first break point, only to see Schiavone step forward to meet a second serve with disdain, driving a diagonal dagger to earn the first break and a 5-3 lead. Schiavone sealed the 40-minute first set with a confident hold.
Hitting her trademark two-handed strokes like body blows in an effort to negate Schiavone’s sharp angles, Bartoli blasted backhands that drew successive errors to snag her first break and a 2-0 second-set lead. Staring down break point in the next game, Bartoli benefited from a net-cord winner to save it. But fortune faded for the Frenchwoman, who committed another backhand error to drop serve. Growing fatigue and Schiavone’s skill were too much for the former Wimbledon runner-up, who dropped serve to fall behind 4-3 and never recovered.
During the past decade only one woman—Justine Henin—has successfully defended a French Open title, and the last woman over 30 to reign at Roland Garros was Chris Evert, who was 31 when she won the last of her seven titles there in 1986. The 30-year-old Schiavone will try to continue her reign when she faces sixth-seeded Chinese Li Na in Saturday’s final.
—Richard Pagliaro