Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza shrugged off an early scare to progress to her first French Open semi-final by finally ending the run of 108th-ranked American Shelby Rogers 7-5 6-3 on Wednesday. In the last three decades, only five women ranked lower than Rogers have reached the Final Eight at Roland Garros, the Associated Press reports. I think it’s great. “You know, I wasn’t too nervous, so I did a good job in the beginning, kind of just breathing and controlling myself”.
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Poised to continue her Cinderella run, Rogers held a set point in the opener today. Up 5-4, Rogers served for the set before surrendering two straight breaks on way to a 5-7 loss.
After completing the victory, Djokovic played to the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier, first cajoling a ball boy to join him in bowing for the spectators, then donning a yellow rain hat handed to him by Fabrice Santoro, a former player who conducted the post-match interview. “They jump really high”, she said. If you feel like [you’re] still healthy, doing everything you need to, training well, training hard, and feel like you can still compete with the best players in the world. I have nothing to lose against her, so I’m just going to go and play. “That’s what I did”.
Perhaps our best prospect is Ash Bartley recently returned from premature retirement but there are no guarantees as she works her way back through minor tournaments. The last gasp was fleeting, however, as Muguruza reeled off the last three games in minutes, capitalizing on Rogers’ errors with powerful strokes.
Two games later Muguruza scraped a mid-court forehand off the dirt and followed it forward coaxing a netted pass. While other big names around her have continued to stumble because of the conditions and delay, the Spaniard has not been bothered by any distractions and has beaten an in form Shelby Rogers to reach the semis. “It s totally fine I think for me and for everyone”.
Williams will compete in the fifth Roland Garros semi-final of her career.
Still, what a career-changing tournament for Rogers, who grew up in Charleston and served as a ballgirl at the Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island.
After collecting successive wins over No. 19, No. 12 and No. 28, she’s expected to soar from her 108th world ranking to No. 59 and from sixteenth in the U.S.to No. 9.
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“I think tennis in general is very reactive”, she said. I’m not thinking anymore about being in that position as what I was before I played my first round, to be honest.
