Maria Sharapova stayed on course to regain the No1 ranking by moving into the French Open semi‑finals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Estonia’s Kai Kanepi here today.
The Russian will take top spot if she reaches the final and needs a first French title to complete her set of Grand Slam crowns.
Sharapova came into Roland Garros in impressive form having won Stuttgart and Rome and despite the occasional serving blip, she is playing like a Grand Slam champion. She is injury free and confident which makes her a very dangerous player.
Sharapova is one of the biggest ground-stroke hitters on the women’s tour and was helped today by Kanepi’s lack of power from the baseline.
She wrapped up the first set in 27 minutes but Kanepi, the 2001 French Open girls’ champion, showed more fight at the start of the second set and broke courtesy of a double fault to lead 2-0.
However, the world No23 could not press home that advantage and Sharapova, who first topped the rankings in 2005, went through.
She said: “I’m happy to be back in the semi-finals, the third time I’ve made it this far. I really hope that the win can come this year. My preparation has been really good, it was nice to win two tournaments coming in. I’m happy with the way I’ve improved, but it only gets tougher from here. What girl doesn’t like Paris?”
Meanwhile, Britain’s Kyle Edmund moved into the quarter-finals of the boys’ tournament with a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 win over second seed Gianluigi Quinzi, of Italy.
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