On a windy and cold day in Paris, the fortunes of two Grand Slam champions blew in different directions as Maria Sharapova needed to labor for more than three hours to score a victory, while defending Roland Garros champion Li Na was stunned by a qualifier.
Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova ended Li's hope of becoming the first back to back titlist since Justine Henin won three crowns between 2005-2007 when she hit through the Chinese 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 on Court Suzanne Lenglen in a match where Li completely lost her rhythm in the last two sets.
Li, who had looked good in her first three matches and had reached the final of Rome two weeks ago, committed 41 unforced errors and could not stay with the charged-up Shvedova off the ground.
No.142 Shvedova, who reached a career high ranking of no.29 two years ago after reaching the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, had fallen off the map in singles, as she began the year ranked No. 201 and had to play ITF Futures events to get her confidence back and her ranking high enough so she'd even have a chance to qualify for the majors She will play the winner of the Varvara Lepchenko vs. Petra Kvitova match in the quarter-finals.
Sharapova and Czech Klara Zakopalova fought tooth and nail in match that featured 21 breaks of serves, but also some searing groundstrokes from both women, who combined for 82 winners. Even though she failed to serve the match out twice in the second set and saw Zakopalova hit through her in a hard-fought contest that tested both players legs and wills, Sharapova came away with a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2 victory.
With No.1 Victoria Azarenka, defending champion Li as well as 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams out of the draw, it may appear that this is Sharapova's best chance to complete a career Grand Slam, but as the 30-year-old Zakopalova showed on Monday, there are plenty of players who do not fear the higher seeds and can stay with them. Sharapova will play the winner of the match between Arantxa Rus and Kaia Kanepi.
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