Lucie Safarova into first French Open semi-finals

Lucie Safarova booked her place in the semi-finals of the French Open this afternoon courtesy of a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over Garbine Muguruza.

For the Czech Republic player, the win has seen her reach the last four at Roland Garros for the first time in her career, having never previously gone beyond the fourth round.

Having defeated defending champion Maria Sharapova last time out, it was a confident start from Safarova, but she was matched by her young Venezuelan opponent.

It meant that a tie-break was required to determine the victor of the first set, with world number 13 Safarova taking it after dropping just three points.

She then went on to claim an early break of serve in the second set and that proved to be decisive as the 28-year-old held her remaining service games to advance through.

Up next and standing in the way of a first ever Grand Slam final appearance for the Brno-born player will be Ana Ivanovic, who beat Elina Svitolina earlier today.