Maria Sharapova powered to a 6-2 6-3 success over Kaia Kanepi to move just one win away from a first French Open final.
The Russian won five successive games in the second set as she turned the screw on her opponent in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
The second seed and title favourite is looking to complete her set of grand slam titles and go one better than last year, when she lost to eventual champion Li Na in the last four.
Sharapova had struggled in the wind against Klara Zakopalova in the previous round, dropping her first set of the tournament.
There had been a remarkable 21 breaks of serve in that match and - in similar and breezy and cool conditions - it looked like the same could happen again when all of the first three games went against serve.
But Sharapova looked much more secure, powering groundstrokes, and after she held for 3-1 she wasted little time racing through the rest of the first set.
Kanepi, who ousted former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the third round, began the second set brilliantly, winning the first two games.
The Estonian had a chance to go 3-0 up but she could not take it, and from there Sharapova turned the screw, winning five successive games.
Kanepi had one last big effort, breaking the Russian to love when she served for the match, but she could not hold her own serve and a mis-hit backhand sealed her fate.
She will now face either fourth seed Petra Kvitova or Yaroslava Shvedova.
No comments:
Post a Comment