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Russia's Maria Sharapova hits a return to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi during their quarterfinal match at the French Open on Wednesday. Sharapova won 6-2, 6-3. Patrick Kovarik / Agence France-Presse |
Maria Sharapova reached her third French Open semifinal on Wednesday, defeating Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 to take another step closer to a career Grand Slam.
The Russian world No 2, who was also a semifinalist in 2007 and 2011, will tackle either Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in Saturday's final.
"I am happy to be back in the semifinals. I love coming back here to challenge myself to go further in the tournament," said Sharapova, who can reclaim the world No 1 spot if she gets to the title match.
"I won two tournaments coming into Paris, in Stuttgart and Rome, and they gave me a lot of confidence.
"But every event is different. I am just happy to improve and I know it'll get tougher from here."
Kanepi was broken seven times in the match and admitted Sharapova had too much firepower for her.
"She attacked all the time, I didn't have any time to hit my shots and I just couldn't get any rhythm out there. I was also very nervous and I am just sorry I didn't get to spend more time on the court," she said.
"Maria is playing really well, she can win the tournament."
(China Daily 06/07/2012 page24)
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