Muguruza brushes off Sharapova to reach French Open semi-final

Garbine Muguruza registered her first victory over Maria Sharapova in four attempts. RFI/Pierre René-Worms

Garbine Muguruza annihilated the former world number one Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-1 on Wednesday to reach the French Open semi-finals. It was all over in just over an hour and was the 31-year-old Russian’s worst defeat at a Grand Slam tournament for six years.

Muguruza, who won the title in 2016, will play top seed Simona Halep for a place in Saturday's final. The semi-final will have added stakes as the winner will become the women’s world number one.

"I am very pleased to be in another semi-final in Paris," said Muguruza who has yet to drop a set in the tournament and claimed her first win over Sharapova in four meetings.

"I was up against a great player so I had make sure I brought my best tennis."

Halep made the semi-finals for the third time by coming from behind to see of the 12^th seed Angelique Kerber. The German former world number one took the first set 7-6 but the Romanian did not falter. She won the second set  6-3 and ran away with the decider 6-2.

While that match lasted two hours and 14 minutes, Sharapova was on her way home after 70 minutes. It was her most one-sided defeat at the Grand Slam tournaments since a 6-3 6-0 loss to Victoria Azarenka in the 2012 Australian Open final.

Muguruza pounced on Sharapova's errors to lead 4-0. By the end of the first set, Sharapova had won just eight points against the Muguruza serve and failed to carve out a single break point.

The pair exchanged breaks at the start of the second set but from 1-1  it was one way traffic.

“The last time we played was a very long time ago, and a lot of things happened in between that.So I feel like I am a more developed player. And I am very motivated out there too – it was a Grand Slam quarter-final.”