Serbia's Ana Ivanovic reached the first Grand Slam final of her career with victory over Maria Sharapova at the French Open Thursday.
Seventh seed Ivanovic took control from the start and came through 6-2 6-1 against Russian second seed Sharapova, reports BBC.
Ivanovic (19) will face Justine Henin in Saturday's final after the defending champion beat Jelena Jankovic.
"I played a great match and didn't miss much. I was expecting a tough match but took my opportunities," said Ivanovic.
"I knew I had to be aggressive because if you give her chances she will take them."
Sharapova went into the match as the world number two and with Wimbledon and US Open titles to her name, but her form and fitness had been in question.
A natural aversion to the clay and a recent shoulder injury meant that the Russian was not necessarily the favourite against in-form Ivanovic, winner of the German Open last month.
And from the opening moments, when Ivanovic broke serve, the Serbian's movement and consistency from the baseline made it a surprisingly one-sided encounter.
Sharapova double-faults gave up two more breaks in the first set and she slipped 4-0 behind in the second before Ivanovic put her out of her misery with an ace on match point.
"I felt like I gave her the chances to open up the court and she was always the one getting to the ball first," said Sharapova.
"I would have liked my serve to be more effective but giving her the first ball wasn't a great game plan. There were a lot of sloppy errors and I just couldn't find any rhythm."
Ivanovic added: "Maria likes to dominate but I knew she's not a great mover so I tried to play the ball deep and put her under pressure. She went for the big shots but I was there.
"Now I will look forward to the final, it's my first in a Grand Slam and I'm very excited about it."
Ivanovic shocks Sharapova
FE Team | Published: June 09, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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