Li Na became the first woman from the continent of Asia to win a grand slam event when she beat defending champion Francesca Schiavone.
Chinese becomes the first Asian to clinch grand slam title
Li Na became the first woman from the continent of Asia to win a grand slam event when she beat defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6 in the French Open final.
The sixth seed from China lost her first major final at the Australian Open earlier this year but went one better against the Italian with a determined performance.
Li, who had never previously won a clay-court title, settled the better of two as Schiavone struggled to come to terms with her opponent's power and accuracy from the baseline.
Schiavone sent a forehand wide to hand Li her first break in the fifth game, but while the defending champion held to love in her next two service games she was unable to put pressure on the Li delivery.
Li wrapped up the first set in 39 minutes, with Schiavone cutting a frustrated figure as she continued to search for her rhythm.
And she was quickly under pressure in the next as Li continued to pull her all over the court, taking the opening game after earning three break points.
Danger
Schiavone had a chance to hit back immediately with her first break point of the match but Li averted the danger with an ace and once more had the Italian on the defensive, needing to save another break point in the fifth game.
At 4-2 Li was two games away from victory but Schiavone was not about to relinquish her title without a fight and she fought back in typical fashion, cutting out the unforced errors that dogged her game in the first set.
She saved another break point in the next with a big first serve and she was finally back on terms again at 4-4 after capitalising on the first of two break points, clubbing a forehand cross court that Li was unable to deal with.
Schiavone then held to love to lead for the first time as the momentum started to swing in her favour.
But Li dug in and held after a deuce service game before taking it to a tie-break, following a moment of controversy when a Li backhand was called out before being overruled from the chair.
The breaker proved an anti-climactic affair - Li earned an early mini-break from the net and Schiavone was unable to gain a foothold, in the end surrendering meekly as Li wrote her name in the history books.
