In an extraordinary
rise, Italian tennis player Sara Errani came in second in singles competition
at the 2012 French Open, after wining the first place title for women’s doubles
with fellow Italian Roberta Vinci the day before. A native of the Emilia
Romagna region, Errani lost to Maria Sharapova, whose win completed a career
Grand Slam for the Russian tennis star.
Errani’s rise,
however, is just as significant as her opponent’s success. The Italian’s
performance has moved her up to the WTA top 10 ranking for singles, a
remarkable accomplishment after being tanked 500th at the time Sharapova won
the title at Wimbledon in 2004.
She began the
tournament ranked 23rd in the singles. Even more remarkable since she had not
yet played any one in the top 10 of the tournament. But her success at Roland
Garros in Paris did not come out of nowhere: Errani has won more matches on
clay in 2012 than anyone else on the WTA tour.
Errani was the first
player to reach the finals of singles and doubles at the French Open since Kim
Clijsters in 2003.
Moreover, this year
is the second year in a row that an Italian woman made the finals of the French
Open. In 2011, Francesca Schiavone, who was the first Italian woman to win the
French open in 2010, was second to China’s Li Na.
