Halep and Muguruza through to French Open semis

Reuters: World number one Simona Halep won a bruising quarter-final battle against Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 to book a place against Garbine Muguruza in the French Open semis.

Halep started slowly, spraying shots wide as she lost the first four games of the match against the number 12 seed who hit her early groundstrokes with lethal accuracy.

But the Romanian clawed her way back into the contest, winning three straight games as both players struggled to hold on to their serves in a monster opening set that swung one way and then the next.

Kerber eventually prevailed in a tiebreak, but Halep came out all guns blazing in the second, firing baseline bullets at her opponent, who tried to cling on against the onslaught.

But by the third set Halep had broken down the German’s defences — and her resolve.

“It’s always a tough match when I play against her. After the first set I just stayed strong and didn’t give up,” Halep told the court Suzanne Lenglen crowd in a post-match interview.

“I missed a lot in the beginning. I tried to do too much. I changed the tactics a bit and it worked.”

Meanwhile, Garbine Muguruza roared into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-2 6-1 demolition job of Maria Sharapova. The predicted battle royal between the two former champions never materialised on a muggy Court Philippe Chatrier as Spaniard Muguruza dominated from start to finish.

Sharapova looked nervous from the beginning and was never allowed to settle as Muguruza posted her first victory against the Russian at the fourth attempt.

An anti-climactic match ended in predictable fashion with a Sharapova backhand into the net.

Muguruza, winner two years ago, will face either world number one Simona Halep or Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals.