In the French open, World number one Serena Williams crushed Italian Sara Errani 6-1 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the French Open in intimidating fashion on Wednesday. Williams, seeking to win her 20th Grand Slam title, leads the Italian 8-0 in career matches, with five of those on clay.
In the match, Williams defeated Errani in just over an hour and will play the winner of Timea Bacsinszky and Alison Van Uytvanck in the next round. Williams had 10 aces and converted 5 of 8 break points. Although it took her four match points, Williams finally dispatched Errani with a cross-court winner.
Williams the number 1 had dropped the opening set in her previous three rounds but was quickly out of the blocks on Wednesday, setting the tone by breaking in Errani’s first service game.
After win the crucial match, the winner said courtside interviewer in French, “I knew I had to start better today than the other days because she’s a tough opponent who’s got history here,”
In a report, the two-time French Open champion she last won in 2013 — still has a chance to become only the fifth woman in the Open era to win the year’s first two majors — and the first since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
On Thursday, Williams’ semifinal opponent will be 23rd-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky or Belgian upstart Alison Van Uytvanck, who did not face a seeded player in her first four matches here.
In the men’s side No. 1 Novak Djokovic seeks to dethrone nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the men’s quarterfinals, while Andy Murray unbeaten on clay this season bids to beat 2013 finalist David Ferrer for the first time on clay court.
