Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza advance to French Open semifinal showdown | Zagsblog
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Friday / March 29.
  • Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza advance to French Open semifinal showdown

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    (AP) — Top-ranked Simona Halep rallied past Angelique Kerber 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the French Open semifinals.

    On Thursday, Halep will face No. 3 Garbine Muguruza, who blitzed No. 28 Maria Sharapova, 6-2, 6-1, in a matchup of past French Open champions.

    The second semifinal is an all-American battle between reigning US Open champ Sloane Stephens and US Open runner-up Madison Keys. 

    Halep went all out in the first set but her bold strategy backfired badly as she hit 30 unforced errors. She reacted well to limit her mistakes while staying aggressive on her German opponent’s service games.

    “After the first set I just stayed strong, I did not give up at all,” said Halep. “I missed a lot at the beginning of the match. I tried to do too much. Then I changed a little bit of tactics and it worked.”

    Halep is still chasing her first Grand Slam title. She led Jelena Ostapenko by a set and 3-0 in last year’s final at Roland Garros. But she fell apart and eventually lost to the unseeded Latvian in her second French Open final.

    After making 30 unforced errors in the first set, which she lost 7-6 (2), Halep finally found the right rhythm to dictate points with deep groundstrokes and aggressive returns.

    The Romanian broke at the start of the second set and then held for 6-3 as Kerber dropped her serve again in the ninth game.

    Halep has won five of her past nine matches against the 12th-seeded Kerber, including their most recent encounter in the Australian Open semifinals when she saved two match points.

    Earlier, Muguruza overwhelmed Sharapova.

    Muguruza had lost all three previous meetings against Sharapova, who won two of her five Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros.

    Muguruza has not dropped a set so far in this year’s tournament as she seeks a second championship in Paris and third major trophy overall. The Spaniard won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon last year.

    She needed only 70 minutes to eliminate Sharapova and dominated her with superb returning, breaking the former No. 1 a half-dozen times.

    Sharapova was hardly at her best right from the start, double-faulting three times to get broken in the opening game. She ended up with six double-faults and 27 total unforced errors, 12 more than Muguruza.

    Muguruza raced to a 4-0 lead and never looked back.

    Sharapova didn’t need to play a point in the fourth round, because Serena Williams pulled out of their much-anticipated match with an injured chest muscle. Muguruza essentially got that round off, too: Her opponent, Lesia Tsurenko, quit with an injury after only two games.

     

    (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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