Maria Sharapova on Wednesday reached her third French Open semi-final where she will take on Petra Kvitova, the powerful Czech who crushed her in last year’s Wimbledon final. Russian second seed Sharapova, who was also a semi-finalist in 2007 and 2011, eased past Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 while fourth-seeded Kvitova ended Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova’s dream run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.
“I am happy to be back in the semi-finals. I love coming back here to challenge myself to go further in the tournament,” said Sharapova, who can reclaim the world number one spot if she gets to Saturday’s final. “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 that 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.”
