Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza moved a step closer to regaining the French Open title by beating two-time winner Maria Sharapova in a one-sided quarter-final.
Garbine, who won in Paris in 2016, dominated from the start and ended the Russian 30th seed’s hopes with a 6-2 6-1 victory in 70 minutes. The reigning Wimbledon champion, 24, has not dropped a set at Roland Garros. She will play world number one Simona Halep in the last four after the Romanian beat German Angelique Kerber.
Both Muguruza and Halep, who is searching for her first Grand Slam title, could finish the tournament as the world number one. “I was up against a great player so I had to make sure I brought my best tennis,” said Muguruza. “I wasn’t thinking so much about the result. I was just thinking about not dropping my level, not giving her a single point, and I guess that helped my performance.” Sharapova, back on the Paris clay after a two-year absence, admitted she had been outplayed but was pleased with her overall performance at the year’s second major. “Coming into this part of the year, I was losing a few first-round matches, matches that I wanted to be winning,” she said. “But to have had the victories that I have had, obviously things are moving a step in the right direction, but today was certainly not one of those steps.”
Photo Credit: Getty
