Top seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the Open GDF Suez in Paris, beaten 6-4 6-4 by Angelique Kerber.
Top seed exits Paris event in straight sets
Top seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the Open GDF Suez in Paris, beaten 6-4 6-4 by Angelique Kerber.
The German, ranked 27th in the world, had never previously beaten a top-10 player, but she took full advantage of an erratic performance from Sharapova.
The Russian broke twice in the opening set, but the ninth seed hit back both times and had Sharapova on the ropes with a series of booming groundstrokes.
Two unforced errors gifted Kerber the first set, although Sharapova broke again early in the second only to falter on her own serve once more.
Kerber earned her first match point in the 10th game, and she celebrated a place in the last four when Sharapova fired a backhand long.
'Hard day'
"It was a hard day. She played extremely well," Sharapova said. "I was not as aggressive as I would have liked to be and she has a lot of power."
Sharapova, who reached the final of the Australian Open in January, denied she took Kerber lightly.
"I did not underestimate her. She has been playing very well for six months," she added.
"You would like to be in the final in every tournament you play but let's be realistic, the positive thing is I have the feeling I can play better than this."
Kerber, who will play Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer in the last four, was delighted with her performance.
"I played very well. I just played my game, that was my plan," she said.
Wickmayer battled past Germany's Mona Barthel 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.
Second seed Marion Bartoli, the last French player left standing, needed a deciding tie-break to see off off seventh seed Roberta Vinci.
Bartoli prevailed 4-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) and will play Klara Zakopalova in the semi-finals after the Czech had earlier become the first player to reach the last four with a 3-6 7-5 6-1 victory over Julia Goerges, who was hampered by a thigh injury in the deciding set.
