Russia's Maria Sharapova has won her second French Open tennis title in three years after defeating Romania's Simona Halep 6-4 6-7 6-4 in a gripping final, the first to go the full distance in Paris in 13 years and the second longest on record.
It was the 27-year-old's fifth grand slam title, bringing her level with Martina Hingis on the all-time list and it came 10 years after she won her first major at Wimbledon 2004.
Sharapova, who completed a career sweep of all four grand slam titles in Paris in 2012 before losing to Serena Williams last year, also moved to number two on the all-time prize money earnings, with only the American ahead of her.
But it took all her legendary grit and resolve to recover from the loss of the second set on a tie-break after she had stood just two points away from the title at 5/3.
The consolation for Halep, whose meteoric rise to the top bracket in women's tennis over the last 18 months has projected her as a potential champion, was that she will climb to a career-high third in the world rankings.
