Maria Sharapova beaten at French Open by Lucie Safarova
Monday 1 June 2015 20:45, UK
Defending champion Maria Sharapova has crashed out of the French Open, beaten 7-6 6-4 in the fourth round by Lucie Safarova.
It is Sharapova's earliest defeat at Roland Garros since 2010, when she was beaten in the third round. Since then, the Russian has won the tournament in 2012 and 2014, was the runner-up once and reached the semi-finals once.
Sharapova allowed Safarova to dictate much of the action - the Czech fired 34 winners to her 20, and won it with booming forehands in the final two points.
In her first French Open quarter-final, Safarova will face No 21 seed Garbine Muguruza, who beat No 28 Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-4.
"I knew Maria is an amazing player and I needed to play aggressively and come forward for the points so I'm really happy," Safarova said.
"I'm so happy, it's amazing, it was a great match today and the crowd were so good."
Sharapova, who has been battling a stinking cold all week: "I had a few small openings but I wasn't able to keep up my level. She was more consistent and aggressive, created the angles and that was the difference.
"It was a tough day at the office."
Safarova had only beaten Sharapova once in five previous meetings, but simply outgunned the world No 2.
After edging a tight first set in a tie-break, Safarova raced into a 3-0 lead in the second but Sharapova, renowned for her resilience, battled back to level at 3-3.
The momentum appeared to have turned in the Russian's favour, particularly when Safarova missed a chance to go 4-2 up after she blazed a short forehand wide, but the world No 13 regained her composure to lead 5-4.
Sharapova, serving to avoid defeat, saved one match point when Safarova netted another simple forehand, but the Czech made no mistake at the second opportunity, sealing a stunning victory in one hour and 50 minutes.
