French Open 2018: No pressure, no expectations as Halep eyes fourth Slam final

Simona Halep PicAFPSimona Halep insists she feels no pressure no expectation as she looks to reach a fourth Grand Slam final at the French Open on Thursday The 26yearold Romanian tackles 2016 Roland Garros winner and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza for a place in Saturdays final World number one Halep was runnerup in Paris in 2014 where she was beaten by Maria Sharapova and last year going down to Jelena Ostapenko after squandering a set and 30 lead Her Slam misery continued at the Australian Open in January where she lost in three sets to Caroline Wozniacki I have no expectations no pressure said Halep after seeing off German 12th seed Angelique Kerber 67 27 63 62 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday I just want to play as I did today and as I did every dayIf I do that I will be okay after the match no matter the result On Wednesday Halep looked anything but the top seed slipping 40 down in the first set before she rallied to defeat Kerber a twotime major winner who had exited in the first round in Paris in the last two years It was also a match which witnessed a colossal 99 unforced errors Halep is aware she cannot afford another poor start on Thursday against 24yearold Muguruza who has been tested just once in Paris and that was in the first round where fellow former winner Svetlana Kuznetsova pushed her to a tiebreak in the first set The Spanish third seed thrashed Sharapova 62 61 in the quarterfinals condemning the Russian to her worst Grand Slam defeat in more than six yearsNo 1 spot on lineThe winner of Thursdays semifinal will also decide the world number one spot which Muguruza held for four weeks last year Its not that important because its constantly this thing going on said Muguruza Muguruza holds a 31 career edge over Halep in headtohead meetings but the Romanian won their only clash on clay in Stuttgart in 2015 Sharapova playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015 suffered her most onesided defeat at the Slams since a 63 60 loss to Victoria Azarenka in the 2012 Australian Open final The 2012 and 2014 Paris champion who missed the 2016 tournament because of a doping ban and last year when she was refused a wild card was broken six times committed 27 unforced errors and won just five points on her own serve in the second setIt was just her fifth loss in 25 Grand Slam quarterfinals In Thursdays other semifinal US Open champion Sloane Stephens will take on fellow American and close friend Madison Keys who she beat 63 60 in the final in New York last September When we get on the court its time to compete But before that we are not going to be weird and awkward and make it like weird for each other said Stephens who was close to going out in the third round to Camila Giorgi before winning 86 in a deciding set It is the first time that two American women have reached the last four at Roland Garros since 2002 when Serena Williams beat sister Venus in the final after a semifinal win over Jennifer CapriatiStephens who is now into the semifinals of a major for the third time leads Keys 20 in headtoheads but they have never met on clay Meanwhile Rafael Nadal will resume his fight back in his quarterfinal against Diego Schwartzman on Thursday after rain brought an early halt on Wednesday Top seed Nadal chasing an 11th title in Paris dropped the first set 64 to his Argentine opponent the first time he lost a set at the tournament since 2015 But he was 53 and 3015 to the good when rain sent the players off for good On Court Suzanne Lenglen Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro were locked in a firstset tiebreak when play was called offCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever