Paris: Garbine Muguruza will be searching for her first victory over Maria Sharapova when the pair meet in a blockbuster quarter-final clash at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
It’s been four years since the Russian conquered Muguruza in the quarters for her second Roland Garros title, but the Spaniard has come a long way as a player since then, winning the claycourt slam herself in 2016.
Muguruza has blazed into the last eight stage in Paris without dropping a set. The Spaniard powered through the opening week with straight set wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Fiona Ferro and Samantha Stosur. Her fourth round match lasted just two games before Lesia Tsurenko retired injured late on Monday evening.
A two-time champion here, Sharapova is back into the quarter-finals in Paris for the first time since winning the tournament in 2014. She moved through the first week with a three-set win over Richel Hogenkamp before improving her level to claim straight set wins over Donna Vekic and Karolina Pliskova. Sharapova was scheduled to meet Serena Williams in the fourth round but was handed a walkover into the next round.
With three Roland Garros titles between them, a showdown between the Spaniard and Russian has the box office appeal befitting the setting and the stage. But neither player would have enjoyed advancing in such circumstances — particularly Muguruza, who knows Tsurenko’s pain only too well.
“I think it happened in the second game,” Muguruza said. “I saw her hitting a shot and that didn’t look very well, and so from that moment, I think she didn’t feel good. So is not beautiful.
“I know how it feels — I had a few retirements at the beginning of the year. Is very tough, especially here, for sure, fourth round of the French Open.”
Brushing aside any suggestions of being the favourite, Muguruza said: “Favourite? Not really. Because I think it’s a match that is going to be very interesting. The quarter-finals are going to be very good. I saw her match against [Karolina] Pliskova the other day, and she played extraordinarily well.
For two players so prominent at the sharp end of the women’s game, it seems somewhat of an anomaly that Muguruza and Sharapova have not met since that 2014 season. What can be read into Sharapova’s trio of victories is hard to say — both for the Russian and her 24-year-old opponent.
“It’s true that this was a long time ago and a lot of things have changed,” Muguruza said. “What I will do when I walk on the court, I’ll have the same spirit but with different options to win. Yeah — things have changed a lot.”
