FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE and Samantha Stosur do not appear on any of the billboards on the approaches to Roland Garros but they will take centre stage today in one of the most unlikely French Open finals for years.
Not since 2004 has the womens showpiece in Paris featured two players in their first grand slam singles final but this one is even more surprising than the showdown six years ago when Anastasia Myskina beat Elena Dementieva.
Both of them were fast-rising Russians whereas Stosur, a former world number one doubles player, and the durable 29-year-old Italian Schiavone are Tour stalwarts.
Neither would have been on many lists of potential champions but they are both determined to seize their golden opportunity.
“It’s been really fantastic up until this time, so hopefully I can make it a little bit better tomorrow,” said Stosur, who has blazed a trail past four-times champion Justine Henin, world number one Serena Williams and former world number one Jelena Jankovic to become the first Australian woman to reach a grand slam final since Wendy Turnbull in 1980.
“I’ve had some great matches up to this point. But none of those win me the match tomorrow,” added the seventh seed whose parents and younger brother are jetting in especially from Down Under to watch the biggest moment of her career.
Schiavone, who celebrated her semi-final victory over injured Dementieva by planting a kiss on the red dust of Court Philippe Chatrier, said she would scoop up a handful of the clay surface and take it home to Milan if she wins.
Playing her 39th grand slam tournament she has never been ranked in the top-10, a statistic that will change next week for the world number 17, and she is one victory away from becoming the first Italian woman to win a grand slam singles title.
“I’ve been waiting my life for this,” Schiavone told reporters. “I think I was born to play tennis, so this is a dream, and this is reality now.”
With temperatures expected to hit 30 degrees, Stosur’s high-kicking serve, reminiscent of compatriot Pat Rafter’s, could be a key factor in the outcome. Serena Williams never got to grips with it and it bamboozled Jankovic.
The seventh seed’s punishing forehand, described as “like a man’s” by Jankovic has also been used to leave a trail of destruction in her wake.
“I don’t know what the temperature is going to be tomorrow, but it’s pretty hot today,” Stosur said yesterday. “Maybe that will be good for me. But I’ll be ready for anything that happens tomorrow.”
Schiavone, who has lost four out of five meetings with Stosur including last year’s French Open first round, will have to be at her crafty best and will start as underdog, but a tournament that has been impossible to call remains so.
