Serena Williams was beaten in the Madrid Open semifinals, a short time after Maria Sharapova also lost. Petra Kvitova defeated the top-ranked Williams 6-2, 6-3, while Svetlana Kuznetsova ousted Sharapova 6-2, 6-4. In the men’s tournament, Rafael Nadal advanced to the semifinals by beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4.
Nadal’s opponent will be Tomas Berdych, who defeated John Isner 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (1). The victory was Kvitova’s first against Williams, a 19-time Grand Slam champion. “I’m just exhausted today,” said Williams, who had her serve broken six times. “But it’s really good preparation for Roland Garros.” Earlier, Kuznetsova beat Sharapova for the first time in seven years, breaking her opponent’s serve three times and saving one break point she faced.
Sharapova, who could have returned to No. 2 in the rankings with a victory, said she wasn’t able to take advantage of Kuznetsova’s second serves like she had done previously. “Today she had much more pop on her ball than I did, while I felt my shots were a bit too flat,” Sharapova said. “I also think the court and the bounce, with the altitude here, meant her spin was getting really high.” Kuznetsova is 1-3 against Kvitova but beat the Czech last year at the French Open.
Sania, leander lose but Bopanna wins
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis went down 7-6 (5), 3-6, 9-11 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and lucie Safarova. Another Indian bowing out of the tournament was leander Paes and Daniel Nestor, who lost their second round match 6-7 (4), 3-6 to Feliciano lopez and Max Mirnyi. However, the Indian challenge is still alive as Rohan Bopanna and his partner Florin Mergea reached the semifinals following a 6-3, 6-2 win.