Sharapova survives bagel, Rafa sets up Djokovic clash

PARIS,  (Reuters) – The last time Maria Sharapova dropped the opening set of a match 6-0, an Olympic dream was trampled. Yesterday a similar drubbing provoked a champion’s response as the Russian kept alive her hopes of a second successive French Open title alive.

Thoughts of her humiliating defeat at Wimbledon by Serena Williams last year returned as the misfiring Sharapova surrendered the first set of her quarter-final against Jelena Jankovic in 28 minutes before recovering to win 0-6 6-4 6-3.

As expected Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic set up a siesmic semi-final clash after comfortable wins against Stanislas Wawrinka and German veteran Tommy Haas respectively.

Seven-times champion Nadal, roaring back into top form after a poor opening week, crushed weary-looking Swiss Wawrinka 6-2 6-3 6-1 while world number one Djokovic was made to work harder by Haas before polishing off the 35-year-old 6-3 7-6(5) 7-5.

With Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Spaniard David Ferrer enjoying comprehensive wins on Tuesday all four men’s quarter-finals at Roland Garros were won in straight sets for the first time since 1948.

In contrast all the women’s last-eight ties have been tightly contested, even Victoria Azarenka’s 7-6 6-2 defeat of Maria Kirilenko which featured a 76-minute opening set. That Sharapova pulled round a match in which she managed just 14 points in a first set to move through to a juicy-looking semi-final against Azarenka spoke volumes for the fighting spirit of the four-times grand slam champion.

SIZZLING WINNERS

“I wanted to put that chapter behind me,” Sharapova said.

“It was certainly nice to change that around, because I wasn’t doing much in that first six games.”

World number two Sharapova will be wary of making such a slow start against Azarenka today.

The Belarussian enjoys a 7-5 career record against Sharapova and says she is beginning to fall in love with clay after reaching her first semi-final at Roland Garros.

“I still don’t have any ring on my finger,” she said when quizzed about her relationship with the Parisian clay courts.

“But I feel like we made a step forward.”

Sharapova made 45 unforced errors against the feisty Jankovic but having worked her way back into the match she showed her class with some sizzling winners when it mattered.

At 3-3 in the third set she stretched her long limbs to hook an impossible-looking backhand winner and then broke serve with a piercing forehand down the line, holding her celebratory fist-clenched salute as courtside cameras clicked their appreciation.

She then fought off a break point in the next game with a nerveless swinging volley off a Jankovic moon ball, breaking the Serbian’s spirit in the process as she moved on to reach the semi-finals here for the fourth time in 11 attempts.

“Sometimes you just have to get the job done, and I did today,” Sharapova said.

REPEAT ON CARDS

A repeat of last year’s women’s final between Sharapova and Italian Sara Errani is still on the cards, although Azarenka and world number one Serena Williams, who faces Errani, will have plenty to say about that.