After becoming the first Asian to win a grand slam singles title, Li Na has set her sights on repeating her success at Wimbledon.

Li overcame defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6 (7/0) on Saturday to claim the French Open title.

Li has been at the forefront of China's modest success in women's tennis in recent years, reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2006 and then the semi-finals at the Australian Open last year.

But it is this season she has really positioned herself as a major force, losing to Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open final prior to Saturday's brilliant win.

Li's path to the top has certainly not been straightforward. In 2002 she quit tennis to study journalism at university before returning two years later, while for the last three years she has been playing outside China's official tennis programme after marrying coach Jiang Shan.

In April, following a poor run of results, she ditched Jiang and began working with Dane Michael Mortensen instead. A record of 14 wins and two defeats from three tournaments suggests the decision was unquestionably the right one.

Discussing her break from tennis, she said: "Before my ranking was always over 120 and I was always playing in small tournaments. It was no challenge, so that is why I said I should stop and go to university to learn a different way.

"But I didn't want my career in tennis to end like that so I had to change myself a little bit. After two years, I thought it was the time to come back."

Li has a good record at Wimbledon, reaching the last eight in 2006 and 2010, and, in what is expected to be another open tournament, the 29-year-old will surely fancy her chances.

And it will not be until after the Championships that she will be able to go home to China to celebrate her historic win.

She added: "I will go back after Wimbledon. If I don't do well at Wimbledon, maybe people will have forgotten me already. These are tough times you know!

"I think right now is the best time for me because I can enjoy it with my team. After Melbourne, when I went back to China many people came up to me. Now I can just enjoy it and try to focus on Wimbledon."

Schiavone herself appreciates last year's French Open triumph even more after experiencing the other side of the coin on Saturday.

The Italian had last year enjoyed the same elation the Chinese woman went through on Saturday, claiming a first grand slam title at the age of 29.

She said: "The impact of winning, there's a big difference when you lose. But I'm happy to be here because now I can feel much more what I did last year. To be close to winning is very different to actually winning.

"But, at the same time, getting to the final again meant that I had the chance to take the trophy. There are a lot of emotions."

More than 100million people were estimated to have watched Li Na's triumph on Saturday.

The sixth seed was herself surprised that her breakthrough came at the French Open given she had never won a clay-court tournament before, and Schiavone hopes it will inspire more Chinese players to give the surface a go.

She said: "I can imagine many Chinese people were watching. I think it's important also for them to know about clay over there.

"I think they play mostly just on hard courts. This can be a good start for them."