Maria Sharapova has won her second French Open title thanks to an epic 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 victory over Simona Halep in Paris.
World number three Halep, who was appearing in a Grand Slam final for the first time, started positively by breaking Sharapova to open up a 2-0 advantage in the opening set.
However, Sharapova responded by winning the next five games in succession, which left her Romanian opponent to serve to remain in the set. She duly obliged, and then broke to reduce the arrears even further, but Halep could not prevent 27-year-old Sharapova from breaking next time around as she took a one-set lead in two minutes shy of an hour.
Sharapova started the second set with a hold, before she forced Halep into saving two break points. However, on the third occasion, Halep could only find the net as Sharapova appeared to have taken control of the set.
Yet, just as she had done in the first set, Halep rallied to level the score to two games apiece and then neither player was able to break serve during the next four games. That was then succeeded by a run of four straight breaks, which handed Halep two chances to wrap up the set, but she could take neither of them and consequently a tie-break followed.
After an even start to the breaker, Sharapova made inroads on the Halep serve, but was broken back immediately. From that point onwards the 22-year-old was in control and eventually won through 7-5, thus forcing a deciding set.
Both players exchanged breaks at the start of the third set before Sharapova moved into a 4-2 lead. However, Halep's persistence paid off when she brought up a break point on the Sharapova serve at 4-3. The Russian then double-faulted to level the score at 4-4.
With it looking as if the momentum was swinging Halep's way once more, Sharapova broke back instantly before serving out the match 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 with just over three hours on the clock.
Liam Apicella
