Na Li (or Li Na, if you prefer the Chinese naming convention) (photo ©Sascha Grabow) reached her second final of a Grand Slam tournament, yet she’s still considered a surprise because she’s achieving her best results at 29. She lost a set against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the first round and one against Petra Kvitova in the fourth round. In this tournament she defeated the winners of the two biggest tournaments of the year on clay prior to Roland Garros: Petra Kvitova, who won in Madrid, and Maria Sharapova, who won in Rome.

Francesca Schiavone reached the final being the defending champion yet few would have thought she’d get that far in the tournament again this year because after the victory of 2010 she won no tournaments. She lost a set against Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round and a set against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals.

The final is a battle between Na Li’s powerful and regular shots and Francesca Schiavone’s many possible variations. Even among women the serve is becoming very important and that can be seen in this match. In particular Li serves in excellent way and in the fifth game she also breaks Schiavone’s serve. It’s the decisive break and Li wins the first set 6-4.

At the beginning of the second set Na Li also starts returning very well and she breaks Francesca Schiavone’s serve in the first game. During the set however the Chinese player starts making some mistakes and in the eighth game the Italian breaks her serve for the first time. The set is decided in the tie-break, where Na Li gives her best winning it with a clear 7-0 to conquer set, match and tournament.

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Francesca Schiavone was unable to exploit her great technical skills the way she did a year ago and also during this tournament but she can be proud of her achievements.

Na Li becomes the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam tournament. She won the match imposing her powerplay with consistence keeping the rallies short. Until the last year Na Li was almost unknown outside the tennis world, now she’s going to become No. 4 in the WTA ranking and she’s the French Open champion. As she’s a mature player can we expect other interesting results from her.