World No. 2 Maria Sharapova has reached the semifinals of the French Open after recording a straight-sets victory over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi on Wednesday.
The Russian dominated throughout to defeat Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 for her fourth straight-sets win in five matches at Roland Garros in 2012.
Kanepi, seeded 23rd, was the highest-rated player Sharapova has faced on her run to the semifinal.
Her only other encounter with a seed was a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of China’s Shuai Peng, seeded 28th, in the third round Saturday.
Sharapova will face either world No. 4 Petra Kvitova or Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinal, where a win will be enough to ensure she retakes the world No. 1 spot from Victoria Azarenka.
