By Chris Oddo | Wednesday May 9, 2018
Things appear to be coming together on the red clay for Russia’s Maria Sharapova. The two-time Roland Garros champion and 2014 Madrid titlist eased past Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 to book her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal since 2015.
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Sharapova ripped 30 winners against 20 unforced errors while converting three of six break points to improve to 2-1 lifetime against the 24-year-old World No.22.
The Russian overcame a slow start to reel off the final five games of set one, then broke critically for 4-3 in set two before holding serve the rest of the way to close out her victory in 91 minutes.
Sharapova’s win sets up a quarterfinal with Kiki Bertens. The Dutchwoman blasted past Caroline Wozniacki early on Wednesday, 6-2, 6-2.
“I just felt like I did the right things, despite a slow start I was still very positive,” Sharapova said of her performance.
With her victory Sharapova includes to 138-30 on clay over the course of her career. She owns the second-best winning percentage (.821) among active WTA players on clay.
Sharapova is one of two Russians to reach the quarterfinals in Madrid. Hours later Daria Kasatkina booked her spot in the last eight with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 takedown of No.3-seeded Garbine Muguruza. Kasatkina had to battle hard against Muguruza, who saved eight break points in the sixth game of the final set to stay within touch.
But after the Spaniard broke to get back on serve, Kasatkina took the final two games to improve to 4-1 against Top 5 opposition this season. Kasatkina owns 7 wins against the Top 5 and 11 wins against the Top 10 in her career already.
"It’s always giving you confidence when you’re beating big players on the big stages," Kasatkina told the media afterwards. "Matches like this, when you’re fighting for every ball -- of course after these matches, you’re feeling much better."
The No. 14 seed will face Petra Kvitova for a spot in the semifinals on Thursday.