Sharapova wins second French Open title

Maria Sharapova beat Simona Halep in a thrilling French Open final to claim a fifth Grand Slam title.

The Russian, triumphant at Roland Garros in 2012 and runner-up last year, won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 against her Romanian opponent to taste glory again in Paris.

Halep, ranked 57th in the world this time last year, has enjoyed a meteoric rise and had not lost a set as she breezed through to her first ever major final.

The 22-year-old showed no signs of nerves early on as she went toe-to-toe with the former world number one.

But it was Sharapova who clinched the first set, recovering from losing the first two games to take it 6-4.

Halep fought back to take a dramatic second set, winning a tie-break 7-5.

The momentum was with the Romanian, but Sharapova was ultimately not to be denied as the 27-year-old took the deciding set 6-4. In the second game of the set Sharapova was given a time violation by umpire Kader Nouni, who had been overly lenient on the Russian's slow play.

Halep looked the fresher and she had two chances to break for 3-1 but missed a backhand on the first and Sharapova won the second with a forehand.

The Russian's fist pumps were becoming ever more dramatic, and the most prolonged of the lot came when, having saved two break points, Halep netted a backhand to give Sharapova a 3-2 lead.

But Halep refused to go away and Sharapova's 12th double fault of the match made it 4-4.

Just when it seemed it might be slipping away, though, the Russian played a stunning game to break again and leave herself serving for the match.

And this time there were no more twists, Sharapova winning the final eight points of the match and collapsing to the clay in delight.