With two consecutive double faults top seed Maria Sharapova finished her participation at the Open GDF SUEZ and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova triumphed in their semifinal despite being a set down and then early in the third set a break down. Final score 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Having upset fourth seed Angelique Kerber in a close quarterfinal and earlier seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro, Pavlyuchenkova is now one win away from claiming her biggest career title as the Paris tournament belongs to the Premier-level and offers the champion 480 ranking points and €96,774 in prize money. Pavlyuchenkova’s opponent in the title match will be third seed Sara Errani, who defeated local favorite Alize Cornet 7-6(3) 3-6 7-6(5) in the second semifinal.
Sharapova will tomorrow head to Sochi where she will work as a correspondent, doing commentary for the Winter Olympics, while her next tournament is Indian Wells which starts March 5th. (photo: Jimmie48)
