Garbine Muguruza reveals her SHOCK at Maria Sharapova news at French Open
GARBINE MUGURUZA says she was caught 'completely by surprise' by Serena Williams withdrawing from her French Open match with Maria Sharapova.
Muguruza says she was surprised by Serena Williams withdrawal
Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, pulled out of her clash with Sharapova on Monday just an hour before the match was due to start.
She had been struggling with a pec injury and on Tuesday underwent MRI scans to see how serious the problem was.
Muguruza had an eye on the clash as she knew she would face the winner in the quarter-finals.
Speaking ahead of her clash with Sharapova, the Spaniard said: "It caught me completely by surprise that Serena withdraw. I guess she has her reasons. It was going to be a very interesting match, for sure.
"But I didn't have a preference. I remember we played a quarter-finals, like, four or five years ago against Maria, so it's good to be back there.
"She's played very good matches. I haven't played against her for a while. She's in the quarter-finals, and I'm really looking forward to playing her."
The pair have met three times before, the last of which came in 2014, with the Russian winning on all three occasions.
Muguruza added: "I think it's a match that is going to be very interesting. The quarterfinals are going to be very good.
"I saw her match against Pliskova the other day, and she played extraordinarily good. I'm just going to play her, and that's it.
"So what I have to do is be on top of things and start fast."
French Open Order of Play
Court Philippe Chatrier
(3) Garbine Muguruza (Spa) v (28) Maria Sharapova (Rus)
(1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) v (11) Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg)
Court Suzanne Lenglen
(1) Simona Halep (Rom) v (12) Angelique Kerber (Ger)
(3) Marin Cilic (Cro) v (5) Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg)