French Open Women's Final Tips: Back Sharapova to triumph in Paris

Will Maria reign in Paris?

After a grueling fortnight of tennis, Abelson Info preview the French Open Women's Final which pits Maria Sharapova against Simona Halep...

The shocks came early in Paris this year - we were guaranteed a new champion as early as the second round after world number one Serena Williams was ousted much earlier than expected.

Her absence has allowed Maria Sharapova to emerge from the top half of the draw, but the seventh seed has kept her fans on the edge of their seats after having to fight back from the brink of defeat in her last three matches.

Sam Stosur, Garbine Muguruza and Eugenie Bouchard all took the Russian ace the distance after winning the first set, but Sharapova displayed her grit and determination to pass all three tests to secure a third consecutive appearance in the French Open final.

While she admitted in her post-match interview on Thursday that she would obviously prefer more straight-forward encounters, she is more than ready for the challenge if she is forced to earn her next Grand Slam success. 

Nevertheless, she will come up against another tough opponent on Saturday, with world number four Simona Halep breezing through the tournament thus far. The Romanian ace has yet to drop a single set and she is clearly confident in her ability and in her chances of now winning the tournament.

Heather Watson, Sloane Stephens, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Andrea Petkovic would all appear as difficult obstacles to overcome on paper, and while Halep has had a scare or two at certain stages, she has made it look relatively easy to this point.

However, now in a major final for the first time, it remains to be seen how she reacts to the situation, as it can go two ways. She could come out firing from the baseline and make her shots with all the pressure on her rival, or it could have a negative impact on her mentality and nerves could force her to tighten up.

Given the fact that she knows Sharapova will not go away easily even if she does take a lead in the match, it will likely come down to who is able to have the most consistent performance and take their chances when they present themselves.

Sharapova leads their head-to-head record with victories in all three of their meetings, but realistically, it is only worth considering their last encounter given the turnaround that Halep has enjoyed over the last year.

The former champion beat Halep as recently as Madrid last month, and that match followed a similar pattern where Sharapova dropped the first set only to fight her way back.

Halep will need to be aggressive and maintain it, just as she has done throughout the tournament, and if she is able to play her natural game then a shock is more than possible.

However, it doesn't appear as though Sharapova knows how to accept defeat right now, and she is rightly the favourite to prevail.

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