Kuznetsova ends Bouchard’s run

Svetlana Kuznetsova completed the women’s semifinal line-up in Madrid with a 6-4 6-0 win over Eugenie Bouchard.

Bouchard had taken the tournament by storm with a stunning win over Maria Sharapova in the second round, whcih she followed up with a win over injured world No.1 Angelique Kerber to reach the last eight.

Yet Kuznetsova was far too strong at the Caja Magica, dropping just four games in a 77-minute win during which she struck 28 winners to just seven errors.

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“I kind of didn’t know exactly what to expect because I didn’t play Eugenie for a while. I trained with her, I believe in Sydney a little bit. But clay, she been winning matches, so I want to see how she’s doing like that,” Kuznetsova told wtatennis.com.

“First of all, I got impression that I could make more breaks in the first set. But some things didn’t work, so I did a good work on my mistakes between the sets.

“I think in the second one, I started to play better. I had more control. I knew what was going on with the match at every point.”

Meanwhile, Romania’s Simona Halep booked her spot semifinals, taking less than an hour to defeat Coco Vandeweghe of the United States.

Halep, the world No.8, needed just 59 minutes to defeat world No.20 Vandeweghe 6-1 6-1.

The former French Open finalist is now one step away from a third final in Madrid, after losing in 2014 and seizing the title in 2016.

Halep set up the Vandeweghe clash on Wednesday by defeating Australia’s Sam Stosur, whom she also beat en route to her triumph last year before accounting for Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets in the final.

She will face Anastasija Sevastova in the last four after the Latvian beat Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-3 6-3.

Kuznetsova will meet 14th seed Kristina Mladenovic, who continued her excellent 2017 season with a 6-4 6-4 win over wildcard Sorana Cirstea.