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Roland Garros: Halep, Muguruza Advance To Semifinals

Jun 6th 2018

In a day with threatening skies, Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep advanced to the French Open semifinals, where they will meet on Thursday.

On Court Philippe-Chatrier, Muguruza saw Maria Sharapova’s power game and raised her one, making quick work of the two-time Roland Garros Champion, 6-2, 6-1.

The Spaniard was impressive from the start, as she used her big, flat groundstrokes to move Sharapova around the court, gaining control of court position. The result was 27 unforced errors from the Russian who struck just 10 winners in the match.  Muguruza, also, successfully attacked Sharapova’s second serve, breaking her six times in the match.

Meanwhile, in her service games, Muguruza was on point, winning 72 percent of her first offerings.

Garbine Muguruza

“I am very pleased to be in another final in Paris,” said Muguruza. “I was up against a great player, so I had to make sure I brought my best tennis.”

She has played some of her best tennis over the fortnight and is yet to drop a set in the tournament thus far.

“She did a lot of things better than I did,” Sharapova said. “I think she was the aggressive one. She had a lot more depth in the ball. I think my shots were a lot more forced.”

Meanwhile, in a quarterfinal match on Suzanne-Lenglen Court, two of the best defenders in the game battled and it was Simona Halep who would advance, 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 6-2.

The world number one started slowly out of the gate as Kerber disguised her lefty forehand and successfully directed the ball crosscourt or down the line. The German jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Halep worked her way into the match.

Simona Halep

But in a contest with a combined 12 breaks of service, Halep had opportunities and she promptly fought back into the set and evened it up at 5-5. Two more service breaks would ensue, and the set went to a tiebreak. There, Kerber took control early and did not let up, winning the set going away.

In the second set, Halep gained an early break and did not falter in her service games. The Romanian carried the momentum into the third set where she would break Kerber’s serve three more times, securing the win.

“It's always a tough match when I play against her. After the first set I just stayed strong and didn't give up,” said Halep. “I missed a lot in the beginning. I tried to do too much. I changed the tactics a bit and it worked.”

Muguruza holds a 3-1 career head-to-head advantage of Halep but lost their only meeting on clay at Stuttgart in 2015.