Paris: Maria Sharapova shrugged off losing the first six games and swept the last four to reach the French Open semifinals on Wednesday.
The defending champion overcame a miserable start in the quarterfinals to beat Jelena Jankovic, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3. It was the first victory of Sharapova’s career after losing an opening set 6-0.
Maria Sharapova screams in celebration after winning her quarterfinal. AP
Her adversary on Thursday leave represent two-time Australian Open booster Victoria Azarenka, who contact her beginning Roland Garros semifinal by quivering Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Sharapova gain her beginning Roland Garros deed of conveyance a twelvemonth ago to make out a vocation Grand Slam. She has won 12 matches in a wrangle at the Gallic Open.
The No. 2-seeded Sharapova against No. 3 Azarenka offers the prospect of a deafening semifinal between the two most notorious grunters in tennis.
“Obviously it only gets tougher from here, ” Sharapova read, ” but I ‘m really felicitous I ‘m at this phase again.”
The warmest atmospheric condition of the tourney recognise the quarterfinalists, and Jankovic quickly have Sharapova diaphoresis. In the beginning define the Russian repeatedly leave out the lines of work by minute tolerances or cut back the last corduroy, and the lucifer represent 35 minutes of arc erstwhile before she gain a plot— and only then because Jankovic double-faulted on open frame tip.
Jankovic won 27 points in the first set, 20 on unforced errors by her opponent.
“I still felt like I was in the match,” Sharapova said. “And I was.”
She then began to find the range while hitting even harder than before. After she finally erased her deficit, Sharapova earned the first break of the final set to take her first lead at 4-3.
Toward the end the rallies became longer, and Sharapova won the majority, often by hitting shots at improbable angles. She struck one winner so violently her necklace flew into her face.
When Jankovic’s final shot sailed wide, Sharapova responded with a slack-jawed smile, as though she couldn’t quite believe her comeback. She had dropped a first set 6-0 five other times in her career, and went on to lose each match.
Most of her results this year have been less dramatic. She’s 35-4, with all but four of those matches decided in straight sets.
AP