French Open 2012: Sharapova Captures Career Grand Slam

The women’s singles side of the French Open has concluded with No. 2 Maria Sharapova taking out No. 21 Sara Errani in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova rolled right through the French Open field to pick up a career Grand Slam.

After Sharapova took a 2-0 lead in the second set of the match, Errani took a 40-love lead in the third game of the set, but Sharapova battled back to tie the game after a double fault. Errani came away with the game, however, to cut into Sharapova’s lead.

The women’s final at the 2012 French Open is set for Saturday in what could be a classic matchup between soon-to-be world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and No. 21 Sara Errani at Roland Garros. The two will play at 3 p.m. local time, 9 a.m. ET. You can watch the match live on NBC.

Sharapova has steamrolled through the French Open in her quest for a career Grand Slam. She has dropped just one of the 13 sets she has played in this year’s tournament, a tie breaker to Klara Zakopalova in the Round of 16 that she turned around into a 6-2 victory in the third set to win the match. Sharapova’s dominance is even more impressive considering how higher seeds have struggled on the women’s draw this year.

For both Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani, reaching the finals of the 2012 French Open is cause for celebration. To put it lightly, the two, born just 10 days apart in 1987, have taken incredibly divergent paths to Saturday’s match.

For Sharapova, the celebration has already begun. Winner of 30 career tournament titles and three grand slams, Sharapova will be ranked No. 1 next week no matter who wins Saturday’s finale. It is her first trip to the top line in the WTA rankings since the 2008 French Open, when Ana Ivanovic took her place. The last four years have seen her fight through everything from a torn rotator cuff to a faulty serve. For three years, from 2008 to 2011, she only advanced beyond the fourth round of a major once. But she has made the semis of four of the last five and the finals of three of the last four, and Saturday, four years and four months after he last won a major, she has a chance to complete a career slam. Only nine women in tennis’ expansive history have pulled off that feat, and only one (Serena Williams) has done so in the last 24 years. This is illustrious company -- Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Maureen Connolly, etc. A win on Saturday would be a magnificent cap to a comeback and an exclamation point on a career that still might have several years remaining in it.