Tennis:Maria Sharapova is one win away from a first French Open final after seeing off Kaia Kanepi 6-2 6-3 in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros today.
The second seed and title favourite is looking to complete her set of grand slam titles and go one better than last year, when she lost to eventual champion Li Na in the last four.
Sharapova had struggled in the wind against Klara Zakopalova in the previous round, dropping her first set of the tournament, and it was breezy and cool again today.
There had been a remarkable 21 breaks of serve in that match, and it looked like the same could happen today when all of the first three games went against serve. But Sharapova looked much more secure, powering her ground-strokes, and after she held for 3-1, she wasted little time racing through the rest of the first set.
Kanepi, who ousted former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the third round, packs plenty of punch herself and she began the second set brilliantly, winning the first two games.
The Estonian had a chance to go 3-0 up but she could not take it, and from there Sharapova turned the screw, winning five successive games. Kanepi had one last big effort, breaking the Russian to love when she served for the match, but she could not hold her own serve and a mishit backhand sealed her fate.