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Chinese whispers

Francesca Schiavone argues her point with the umpire © Getty Images

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• News: Li defeats Schiavone to claim historic French Open title
  
• Profile: Li Na | Francesca Schiavone

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A triumph for China
As Na Li fell to the floor after clinching her maiden grand slam victory, the significance of her achievement slowly started to sink in. Not only was this her first major, it was a first grand slam title for China, and for Asia. China's success at racket sports is traditionally confined to badminton and table tennis, but Li's victory could signal the start of a surge of interest in the sport. One spectator watching in a Beijing bar claimed, "After tonight, I really like tennis," while another admitted, "I don't really understand the game but I am very happy".

Age is no barrier
Saturday's finalists may have only had one major title between them, but they were not short of experience. Defending champion Schiavone will turn 31 later his month, while Li, 29, made her tour debut in 1999 - when world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki was just a wee nipper. Their combined age of 60 years and 79 days made it the oldest grand slam singles final since Jana Novotna defeated Nathalie Tauziat at Wimbledon in 1998.

Record TV audience?
While the much-anticipated final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has dominated the headlines, Li's victory over Schiavone could well be the most-viewed tennis match of all time. Li has been a standard bearer for Chinese tennis, and with an estimated 45 million tuning in to watch Li's semi-final victory over Maria Sharapova, it could well be the most-viewed tennis match of all time.

Anti-Wozniacki
World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki's wait for her maiden grand slam continues, but the Dane could do worse than picking up a few tips from Li. While Wozniacki wins trophies for fun on the WTA Tour, she seems to collapse at the majors. Li, meanwhile, has hardly set the world alight since her final defeat to Kim Clijsters at the Australian Open in January. Li went on a run of four straight defeats as she struggled to maintain her form, but timed her peak to perfection as she went one better in Paris.

Big Call
At 6-5, 40-40 in the second set, a Li return was called out. Schiavone trotted over to the ad court ready to receive serve with a set point in the bag - only for the umpire to overrule the linejudge. She even climbed down off her chair to point to the mark left by the ball - much to Schiavone's disgust. The Italian protested but to little avail, and clearly rattled found the net as Li held serve to force a second set tie-break. Schiavone didn't win another point as Li raced through the tiebreak to clinch the victory.

Swing and a miss
Schiavone didn't have too much to smile about as she struggled to find a way to counter Li's powerful groundstrokes, but after battling back from a break down in the second set, it looked like her luck was starting to change. The fifth seed sent a backhand return straight down the middle, and it landed plum on the baseline, skidded off the whitewash, and Li misjudged the bounce as she swung, only for the ball to fly past.

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