Nadal fightback cut short as Sharapova slumps badly

Rafael Nadal was locked in a French Open quarterfinal tussle with Argentinian Diego Schwartzman when rain ended play on Wednesday, after Garbine Muguruza thrashed Maria Sharapova to reach a last-four showdown with top seed Simona Halep.

World number one Nadal lost his first set at Roland Garros in three years, and when bad weather first interrupted the match the 10-time champion was in serious trouble with Schwartzman up a break in the second.

The players briefly returned to the court, giving the 32-year-old Spaniard enough time to reel off three straight games, but the rains came again for a second and final time when he was serving for the set.

The match will resume on Thursday with Schwartzman leading 6-4, 3-5 (15-30).

The winner of the match will play either third seed Marin Cilic or Schwartzman’s compatriot Juan Martin del Potro.

Muguruza condemned Sharapova to her heaviest Grand Slam defeat in more than six years and will face top seed Simona Halep for a place in the final against either Sloane Stephens or Madison Keys.

The Spanish third seed, who was the champion in Paris in 2016, swept aside the Russian 6-2, 6-1 in just an hour and 10 minutes.

Her semi-final with Halep will also decide the world number one spot next week.

Current number one Halep made the semi-finals for the third time by battling past Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-2.

Sharapova, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015, suffered her most one-sided defeat at the Slams since a 6-3, 6-0 loss to Victoria Azarenka in the 2012 Australian Open final.

“I am very pleased to be in another final in Paris,” said Muguruza who has yet to drop a set in the tournament and claimed her first win over Sharapova in four meetings.

“I was up against a great player so I had to make sure I brought my best tennis.”

Sharapova made 27 unforced errors, was broken six times and served six double faults in only her fifth loss from 25 Grand Slam quarter-finals.

“To have had the victories that I have had, to have the results that I have, obviously moving a step in the right direction,” said the five-time Grand Slam champion who had made the last-eight in Madrid and semis in Rome in the run-up to Paris.

“But today was certainly not one of those steps.”