Francesca Schiavone won her first Grand Slam title at age 29, downing Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) at the 2010 French Open in Paris. In doing so, Francesca became the first Italian woman ever to win a Grand Slam title.
It was a thriller of a match, pitting Francesca’s one-handed powerful backhand against Samantha’s two-handed powerful backhand, two great forehands, two great servers, two great players. In the end, it was 17th seeded Schiavone who was able to stay with her game and upend 7th seeded Samantha. The only other time the French title was won by a woman not seeded in the top 10 was in 1933.
Francesca had the only break of serve in the 1st set at 4-4, then held to win the set at 6-4. In the 2nd set, Francesca rallied back from a 4-1 deficit to force a tie-break. In the tie-break, Francesca was dominate with brilliant shots, earning 4 match points. She put the match away on the first match point opportunity. She fell onto her back, then rolled over and kissed the dirt in celebration.
It was a great match, with both playing well throughout the match. Francesca was better at the net, often following her wide angle groundstrokes in to the net, where she hit excellent winning volleys. Francesca seemed a little quicker covering the court and never seemed to let the enormity of the occasion get to her.
At 29, Francesca became the oldest woman to win her first Grand Slam title since Ann Jones at Wimbledon in 1969 at age 30.
