French Open, Day 10: Sharapova survives as Djokovic dominates
In an upset-heavy French Open on the women's side, it was almost another big name that got dropped on Tuesday at Roland Garros.
Maria Sharapova was up against Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals, with Muguruza playing the spoiler already at this French Open with her straight-sets win over Serena Williams in the second round and looked to play it again in the quarterfinals.
Muguruza came out the aggressor, winning the opening set 6-1 and having a great shot at the second set after Sharapova double-faulted two times in a row after going up a break. But Sharapova, a woman who has won her last 18 matches on clay that went three sets, battled back, took the second set 7-5 and rolled in the third set 6-1 to advance to the her fourth straight semifinal at Roland Garros.
Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Canadian who is having a great French Open, took care of Carla Suarez Navarro to advance to her second-straight Grand Slam semifinal.
The basis of an upset is rankings, and Tomas Berdych had that advantage on Tuesday as he faced Ernests Gulbis for a spot in the semis. Gulbis, a man that has made just one quarterfinals ever in a Grand Slam all the way back at the French in '08, seems to have found a new gear and used that to get past Roger Federer in five sets in the last round.
This time it was Berdych he defeated, but much easier, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to make his first ever Grand Slam semifinal.
Gulbis will now get the "pleasure" of playing Novak Djokovic, who rolled in his quarterfinal match on Tuesday for a spot in the finals.
This whole exchange between Sports Illustrated's Courtney Nguyen and Maria Sharapova after her match.
I had to clarify to Maria Sharapova that Judy Murray is Andy's mom. Gasps among the British press corp, I'm sure. pic.twitter.com/IxQ15vQjyQ
— Beyond The Baseline (@SI_BTBaseline) June 3, 2014
One of the most anticipated matchups of this tournament takes place on Wednesday when hometown favorite Gael Monfils takes on Andy Murray on Chatrier.
The other quarterfinal matchups have Rafael Nadal facing David Ferrer, Sara Errani going up against Andrea Petkovic and Svetlana Keznetsova playing Simona Halep.
Live coverage starts at 8 AM ET on ESPN2.
