Rain stopped play early at the French tennis Open with men's top seed Rafael Nadal a set down in his quarter-final against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Diego Schwartzman ended favourite Rafa Nadal's run of winning 37 consecutive completed sets at Roland Garros, taking the opening set of their quarter-final match 6-4.
Nadal was up 5-3 in the second set.
Third seed Marin Cilic and fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro were level at 6-6 in the opening set of the other last-eight clash.
Maria Sharapova, back at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015 following a doping-ban, said her run to the quarter-finals was a step in the right direction despite a tame defeat by Garbine Muguruza.
"On paper it's a step in the right direction. It's tough to just assess a single tournament. I have to put a lot of things in perspective for the last-four, five weeks since the clay season," Sharapova said.
"Coming into this part of the year, I was losing a few first-round matches, matches that I wanted to be winning. But to have had the victories I have had... obviously moving a step in the right direction. But today was not one of those steps."
Simona Halep eased past Angelique Kerber in the third set to win the match 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 and storm into the last-four at Roland Garros for the third time in her career.
The Romanian world number one prevailed in two hours and 14 minutes to stay on course for her maiden Grand Slam title. She takes on Spain's Garbine Muguruza next. Muguruza leads their head to head record 3-1.
Simona Halep clawed her way back to claim the second set 6-3 and send the quarter-final match against Angelique Kerber into a third set. The two players contested an epic three-setter at the Australian Open this year with Halep winning the decider 9-7.
-Reuters
