Halep bids to beat Sharapova for the first time

Will Maria Sharapova be roaring in delight on Saturday?

Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep are the two names vying to be the last woman standing at Roland Garros this year.

Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep will meet in the French Open final and, although the Russian will be the strong favourite, Halep's rise throughout the year has been an incredible one and ensures she goes into the match with a great chance of winning her first Grand Slam.

The 22-year-old Romanian has emerged as a star in the making. After reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier this season, she has managed to surpass that achievement in Paris, reaching her first Grand Slam final. 

She was number 57 in the WTA rankings at last year's French Open where she was beaten in the first round, but her progress since has been rapid.

So far in 2014 she has won seven WTA titles including the Qatar Open, where she defeated Angelique Kerber to win her first Premier 5 tournament. 

In Paris she has reached the final without dropping a set, beating tough opponents in Sloane Stephens, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Andrea Petkovic en route. 

By contrast, Sharapova's progress through to the final has been more troublesome. She enjoyed routine wins in the first three rounds but had more trouble against Sam Stosur in the fourth. 

Sharapova dropped the first set before coming through in three and in the quarter-finals she again had to come from behind, dropping the first set 6-1 to Garbine Muguruza before the Russian's determination saw her through. 

It was a similar pattern in the semi-final, against another rising star in Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. Struggling with her serve, Sharapova lost the first set before again fighting back and taking the match 4-6 7-5 6-2. 

Despite having to come from behind on three successive occasions, she has now won 18 of the 19 matches she has played on clay this season and, despite being the lower seed - seven compared to Halep's four - her greater Grand Slam experience may give her the edge.

She won the French Open in 2012, beating Sara Errani in straight-sets and reached the final again last year, before losing out to Serena Williams. 

She is one of the select band of players to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles, winning Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open two years later and the Australian two years after that. 

Sharapova and Halep have met three times before and the Russian has a 100% record. They met twice last year, both times on hard courts, at the China Open and in Indian Wells. The Russian won both times without dropping a set.

Their most recent meeting was only a month ago, in the final of the Madrid Open, on clay, which Sharapova won in three sets. Halep took control early on, dominating the first set which she won 6-1. However, she could not keep up the same intensity. 

Sharapova fought back to seize the initiative and she won the second and third sets 6-2 6-3 to take her first Madrid Open title.

Her outstanding record on clay this season means that she has only lost on the surface three times since 2011 and her opponent on each occasion was Serena Williams. 

It will be a different player facing her across the net on Saturday but Halep's outstanding season so far ensures that she goes into the biggest match of her career full of confidence.