Serena setback.

American ‘disappointed’ at having to pull out of her eagerly-awaited fourth round showdown with Sharapova

Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from the French Open ahead of her match against Maria Sharapova yesterday due to an arm injury.

Serena Williams has withdrawn from her fourth-round clash with Maria Sharapova at the French Open through injury.

The 36-year-old American, playing in her first grand slam since giving birth to her daughter in September, said she has a muscle problem.

The showdown with Sharapova was eagerly awaited given the colourful history between the pair, and Williams’ dominant record over the Russian of 19 wins to two.

However, it is Sharapova who will now progress to the quarter-finals.

Williams said: “Unfortunately I been having some issues with my pec muscle. Right now I can’t actually serve so it’s actually hard to play when I can’t physically serve.

“I’m beyond disappointed. I gave up so much from time with my daughter and time with my family all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in this situation.”

Williams revealed she first felt the injury against third round opponent Julia Goerges on Saturday, yet she still played doubles with sister Venus on Sunday.

“That’s when I started to feel it. It was really painful and I didn’t know what it was,” she added.

“In my doubles yesterday I tried a lot of different tapings, and I tried lots of different types of support to see how it would feel under match circumstance. “It didn’t really get a lot better. “So I’m going to get an MRI (scan) tomorrow. I’m going to stay here and see some of the doctors here, see as many specialists as I can. And I won’t know that until I get those results.”

Williams admitted it was painful to walk away from what has been billed as a grudge match after she hit back at comments made by Sharapova about her in last year’s autobiography.

“It’s very difficult because I love playing Maria,” she said.

“You know, it’s just a match I always get up for. It’s just her game matches so well against mine.

“It is difficult because like I keep saying, I have given up so much to be here.

“There are times when I’m on the court and I’m practising and I look on the monitor and I see my daughter and she’s playing and I want to be there, but I know that these are the sacrifices you have to make to live out your dream.

“I have made every sacrifice that I could. So it’s extremely disappointing.

“But also, I made a promise to myself and to my coach and to my team that if I’m not at least 60% or 50%, then I probably shouldn’t play.”

Top seed Simona Halep made short work of Elise Mertens to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open, but Caroline Wozniacki was sent packing.

Romanian Halep has twice been a finalist at Roland Garros but is still looking for a first grand slam title.

She breezed through the first set with Belgian 16th seed Mertens, who beat Britain’s Heather Watson in round two, simply by overwhelming her with power and consistency.

Any hopes of a Mertens comeback were extinguished when the world number one broke in the first game of the second set, which she wrapped up in just 20 minutes to register a commanding 6-2 6-1 victory.

Second seed Wozniacki was a fourth-round casualty at the hands of Russian youngster Daria Kasatkina.

Kasatkina, a former junior champion at Roland Garros, won the first set on a tie-break on Sunday evening, but in fading light the players were taken off court at 3-3 in the second.

The 21-year-old picked up where she left off, converting a third break point against the Australian Open champion before completing a 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 victory.

“I honestly didn’t think I played badly this morning,” said Wozniacki.

“She didn’t miss one ball and she was playing very close to the lines. I was trying what I could but it just wasn’t enough today.”

Kasatkina will face American 10th seed Sloane Stephens in the last eight.

The loss of the Williams-sharapova clash left a huge hole in the schedule and French fans were left reeling again shortly after when home favourite Caroline Garcia was dumped out.

The seventh seed was beaten in straight sets, 6-2 6-3, by Angelique Kerber, the 12th-seeded German who set up a last-eight meeting with Halep.

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I’m beyond disappointed. I gave up so much from time with my family all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in this situation. SERENA WILLIAMS

Serena Williams announces her decision to pull out of Paris.