Injured Serena hands Sharapova last-eight spot

PARIS: Serena Williams announced her shock withdrawal from the French Open through injury on Monday just minutes before her scheduled fourth-round clash against long-time bitter rival and fellow Grand Slam icon Maria Sharapova.The 36-year-old said she had suffered a pectoral muscle injury in her third-round win over Julia Goerges and “can’t serve at all”.The 23-time Grand Slam champion added that she would stay here for a Tuesday scan on the injury.“I unfortunately have been having some issues with my pec muscle, and (it) has been getting worse to the point where right now I can’t actually serve. It’s kind of hard to play when I can’t physically serve,” she explained.It had been the most eagerly-awaited match of the tournament, coming just two days after Williams had blasted Sharapova’s autobiography for being “100 percent hearsay” when it came to references about her.“I think Serena hated me for being the skinny kid who beat her, against all odds, at Wimbledon,” Sharapova wrote in ‘Unstoppable’.“Not long after I heard Serena told a friend, who then told me, ‘I’ll never lose to that little bitch again’.”Sharapova will face either 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza or Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine for a semi-final place.“I was looking forward to my match against Serena and am disappointed that she had to withdraw,” said Sharapova in a statement.“I hope she returns to the tour soon.”Serena’s withdrawal completely over-shadowed the remainder of Monday’s last-16 programme.World number one Simona Halep, twice a runner-up, needed less than an hour to make the last-eight for the third time with a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Belgium’s Elise Mertens.“I was a little bit stronger in the important moments,” said Halep who next faces 12th seed Angelique Kerber.The German reached the quarter-finals for the second time with a 6-2, 6-3 win over France’s Caroline Garcia.Australian Open champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out by Russia’s Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.Kasatkina will be playing in her first Slam quarter-final where she will face US Open champion Sloane Stephens.Rafael Nadal moved a step closer to an incredible 11th French Open title by seeing off German Maximilian Marterer in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals.The world number one’s 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory over the world number 70 saw him equal the record of 12 last-eight appearances at Roland Garros, which was set by Novak Djokovic the day before.Top seed Nadal is now on his own in third on the all-time list for most match wins at Grand Slam events with 234 victories after passing Jimmy Connors.He powered 39 winners past Marterer, who pushed the Spaniard as hard as he could without ever threatening an upset.Nadal will face Argentinian Diego Schwartzman for a semi-final spot, after the 11th seed staged a thrilling comeback to down sixth seed Kevin Anderson 1-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2.Nadal was caught cold in the opening stages as some big hitting from Marterer brought him the first two games.But it didn’t take Nadal long to figure out his opponent, reeling off four straight games en route to an inevitable one-set lead.The 16-time Grand Slam champion raced through the second set in just 38 minutes, breaking his opponent’s serve twice.But Marterer moved into a 3-1 lead early in the third as he threatened to become the first man to take a set off Nadal at Roland Garros since the Spaniard’s 2015 quarter-final defeat by Djokovic.But the reigning champion quickly hit back before securing a tie-break on his second match point when Marterer fired long, celebrating with a trademark fist pump.Schwartzman fought back from two sets down to stun Anderson and reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

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