Sharapova progresses, Kerber knocked out

Top seed Maria Sharapova eased her way into the last four of the Open GDF Suez with a straight-sets win over Kirsten Flipkens on Friday. Sharapova won the opening four games of the match to exert her dominance at the WTA Premier event and a further three breaks in second set saw her record a 6-2 6-2 win against the eighth seed. She won 75 per cent of points on her first serve and made the most of the Belgian's struggles, wrapping up an easy win in just 69 minutes on the hard court. The Russian will face her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semi-finals after she came from a set down to upset fourth seed Angelique Kerber 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Pavlyuchenkova struggled to hold her serve early in the match as the German took the early initiative with the first set. Pavlyuchenkova responded excellently though and she held her nerve in a final set tie-break to claim victory. Alize Cornet responded from a slow start to edge German Andrea Petkovic 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 6-3 in an epic that lasted more than three hours. Cornet lost the first four games but bounced back to take the opener, and although Petkovic won the second, the Frenchwoman stood firm when it counted, as her eight breaks helped her to victory. The other quarter-final saw Italian Sara Errani defeat Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine 6-2 6-3.