In a closely fought contest, the world number two Houdet was pushed all the way by Kunieda, who pulled back the second set after the Frenchman stormed into the lead with a 7-5 first set win.

It went all the way down to the wire in a final set tie-break, in which Houdet asserted his dominance early on by amassing a three-point lead, and although Kunieda did pull it back to 5-4 and save a match point, it was Houdet who was celebrating at the end.

"I have a special phrase for the definition of happiness - to share small moments of pleasure with everyone," said Houdet following his successful title defence.

"And today everyone was there - sponsors, family, the ITF (International Tennis Federation), FFT (French Tennis Federation) - everyone was there,"

"The level of the match was nice.

"The Minister of Sports [Valérie Fourneyron] was there, which was great.

"The involvement of the federation is probably one of the best, they came to watch and I think they really want to do something good."

After his win, Houdet and Kunieda got together in an attempt to take their second doubles title together at Roland Garros against Britain's Gordon Reid and Ronald Vink of the Netherlands.

But it did not start the way the world's top two players had expected, as the underdogs powered through the first set, winning the last three games consecutively to put themselves in the driving seat against the odds.

But the experienced top-seeded pair gained their focus and took a win over three sets - their first win at Roland Garros together since 2010.

Sabine Ellerbrock fought hard to win her first ever Grand Slam title at Roland Garros

There was also drama in the women's singles as Germany's Sabine Ellerbrock won her first ever Grand Slam title, defeating Dutch world number two Jiske Griffioen, in a reverse of the bronze medal match at London 2012.

After two open sets, one going to each of the finalists, Ellerbrock showed her desire to win her first title, overpowering her rival by six games to one in the final to lift the trophy at Roland Garros.

"It's really unbelievable at the minute, especially after London 2012, where it was close," said Ellerbrock.

"I hoped to get the title after a 5-7 loss in the third in the Australian Open final, but I would like to dedicate this win to Claudia [Fornefeld], who passed away in February.

"This was the last tournament we visited together, so it's very emotional."

Things were not all bad for Griffioen however, as she teamed up with Ellerbrock's semi-final opponent, world number one Aniek van Koot, to win the women's doubles against the German newly-crowned singles champion and her team-mate Sharon Walraden of Holland, winning 6-2, 6-3.

"I think we played offensive tennis and kept the pressure on them," said van Koot.

"Even though the second set was closer, we kept fighting together."

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