Muguruza hands Maria worst Slam loss in six years
Spanish No 3 seed wins 62, 61 to enter semis, to face top seed Simona Halep for a place in the final
Garbine Muguruza thrashed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 to reach the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday, condemning the Russian to her worst Grand Slam defeat in more than six years.
The Spanish third seed, who was the champion in Paris in 2016, will face top seed Simona Halep, who beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2, for a place in Saturday’s final.
Sharapova, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015, suffered her most onesided defeat at the Slams since a 6-3, 6-0 loss to Victoria Azarenka in the 2012 Australian Open final. “I am very pleased to be in another semi-final in Paris,” said Muguruza who has yet to drop a set in the tournament.
“I was up against a great player so I had make sure I brought my best tennis.”
Sharapova, who missed the 2016 tournament because of a doping ban and last year after she was refused a wild card, was broken six times, committed 27 unforced errors and won just five points on her own serve in the second set. It was her fifth loss in 25 Grand Slam quarter-finals. Muguruza pounced on an error-plagued Sharapova start to lead 4-0 with a double break.
Sharapova never recovered from serving up three double faults in the first game.
By the end of the first set, the five-time Major winner had won just eight points against the Muguruza serve and failed to carve out a single break point.
BRUISING MATCH
Halep won a bruising quarter-final battle against Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 to book a place against Garbine Muguruza in the French Open semis. Halep started slowly, spraying shots wide as she lost the first four games of the match against the number 12 seed who hit her early groundstrokes with lethal accuracy.
But the Romanian clawed her way back into the contest, winning three straight games as both players struggled to hold on to their serves in a monster opening set that swung one way and then the next.
Kerber eventually prevailed in a tiebreak, but Halep came out all guns blazing in the second, firing baseline bullets at her opponent, who tried to cling on against the onslaught.
But by the third set Halep had broken down the German’s defences -- and her resolve.
I am very pleased to be in another semifinal in Paris... I was up against a great player so I had to make sure I brought my best tennis. GARBINE MUGURUZA, on her victory