Halep breezes past Kuznetsova and into French Open semis

Simona Halep's meteoric rise continued at the French Open on Wednesday, as the world No. 4 knocked off 27-seed and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2, 6-2 to reach her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.  

After her breakout 2013 season, the 22-year-old Halep has been even better in 2014, improving to 24-7 with the win, and improving on her previous best Grand Slam result, which she'd established by making the quarters at this year's Australian Open. 

Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion who finished in the top 10 every year from 2006-2009, has been hanging around the late 20s in the rankings for the better part of two years, after nagging injuries steadily slowed her down. She'll turn just 29 later this month but, having been on tour since 2000, she has more miles on her odometer than her age would indicate. While she's proven she can still be a factor, against the younger and bouncier Halep she looked completely out of her depth. 

Neither player could get much going on her serve, and the match featured as many breaks (8) as holds. Kuznetsova won just 40 percent of her service points. Halep double-faulted three times while trying to serve things out at 5-2. 

But ultimately, Halep was the sharper of the two, showing tremendous anticipation, covering vast swaths of court, and consistently darting to take angles away from Kuznetsova, who managed just 11 winners in the match. And for all her struggles on serve, Halep managed to keep her cool and save seven of the nine break points she faced. 

She moves on to face No. 28 Andrea Petkovic in the semis, against whom she owns a 2-1 career record. The two last played in Tokyo in 2013, with Halep winning in straights.