Maria Sharapova defeated Sara Errani in the final, 6–3, 6–2 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2012 French Open. It was her first French Open title, and she completed the career Grand Slam with the win. It was Sharapova's first major title since the 2008 Australian Open, and her first since a shoulder surgery that threatened to end her career four years prior. She lost only one set during the tournament, to Klára Zakopalová in the fourth round. Sharapova regained the world No. 1 ranking with the win; Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwańska were also in contention for the top spot.

Sara Errani is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 and Golden Slam Winner in doubles. With nine singles titles and 29 doubles titles, she is the Italian tennis player with the highest number of WTA titles. She entered the top 10 in doubles on 11 June 2012, remaining there for 94 straight weeks, and she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 on 20 May 2013. Errani became the world No. 1 in doubles for the first time on 10 September 2012. She was the year-end number-one doubles player in both 2013 and 2014, and has held the top ranking for a combined total of 87 weeks.