PARIS (AP) – Maria Sharapova reached the semifinals at the French Open, the only Grand Slam tournament she hasn't won, by beating 23rd-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.
By Bernat Armangue, AP
Maria Sharapova of Russia cruises into the French Open semifinals, rolling past Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-3.
Sponsored Links
The second-seeded Sharapova lost in the Roland Garros semifinals in 2007 and last year. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and theAustralian Open in 2008.
Sharapova will face Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who rallied to defeat qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Kvitova defeated Sharapova last year in the Wimbledon final.
Against Kanepi, Sharapova played much better than she did in her previous match, when she had 12 double-faults and was broken nine times. Still, there were issues Wednesday, including when Sharapova was broken trying to serve it out.
The Russian is expected to move up to No. 1 in the rankings, overtaking Victoria Azarenka, if she can reach her first French Open final.
Kanepi dropped to 0-4 in major quarterfinals.
Shvedova was trying to become the first qualifier in Roland Garros history to reach the semifinals — and only the third to get that far at any major tournament, joining Alexandra Stevenson at Wimbledon in 1999, and Christine Dorey at the 1978 Australian Open.
Shvedova's victory over 2011 French Open winner Li Na in the fourth round marked the only time any defending Grand Slam champion was eliminated by a qualifier.
No comments:
Post a Comment