Romania’s Simona Halep celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Germany’s Angelique Kerber in French Open on Wednesday, 06 June. Photo: REUTERS

PARIS: 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.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Russia’s Maria Sharapova in French Open on Wednesday, 06 June, 2018. Photo: REUTERS

PARIS: Garbine Muguruza roared into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-2 6-1 demolition job of Maria Sharapova on Wednesday.

The predicted battle royal between the two former champions never materialised on a muggy Court Philippe Chatrier as Spaniard Muguruza dominated from start to finish.

Sharapova looked nervous from the beginning and was never allowed to settle as Muguruza posted her first victory against the Russian at the fourth attempt.

An anti-climactic match ended in predictable fashion with a Sharapova backhand into the net.

Muguruza, winner two years ago, will face either world number one Simona Halep or Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals.

A poster of Palestinian FA chief Jibril Rajoub with Argentina’s soccer player Lionel Messi is seen during Rajoub’s news conference, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank June 6, 2018. Photo: REUTERS

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH: Palestinian football officials praised Argentina and its star Lionel Messi on Wednesday for calling off a friendly match against Israel that Israeli officials had planned to move to Jerusalem.

Argentina’s final World Cup warm-up against Israel was originally slated to be held in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa but was moved to Jerusalem at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain announced on Tuesday it was cancelled.

“The Israelis tried to use Messi and those stars from Argentina, and I would like to thank them and appreciate their decision, which I think was on the right track,” Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub told a news conference on Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

At the entrance to the news conference was a placard saying “From Palestine, thank you Messi” with Argentinian and Palestinian flags, under a big photo of Rajoub posing with the Barcelona ace.

It was a change of tone from Rajoub, who on Sunday had called for Palestinians to burn replica Messi shirts and photos if the Argentinian played in Jerusalem.

Israel’s Football Association accused the Palestinians of crossing a “red line” by inciting anger towards the Argentinian players in order to scupper the match. It said it would complain to soccer world governing body FIFA about Rajoub’s comments, which it described as “physical and brutal threats”.

The Palestinians opposed the decision to hold the match in Jerusalem, accusing Israel of seeking to use the fixture, and especially the presence of global star Messi, to underpin Israel’s claim to the Holy City.

Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, while Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as capital of their own state. Most countries say Jerusalem’s status must be left to be resolved in future peace talks, although US President Donald Trump reversed American policy last year to recognise the city as capital of Israel.

Palestinian football officials say they would have had no issue if the match were held as planned in Haifa, but it should not have been moved to Jerusalem.

Zeev Elkin, a senior Israeli cabinet minister, said on Army Radio that holding the match in Jerusalem was a matter of national pride. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement “the politicisation of Argentina’s move is very worrying”.

File: Undefeated WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. attends a news conference at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas September 9, 2015. Photo: Reuters

LONDON: American boxer Floyd Mayweather’s blockbuster fight against Conor McGregor has pushed him back to the top of the Forbes list of best paid athletes for the fourth time in seven years.

Mayweather, who goes by the nickname ‘Money’, earned $275 million from last year’s fight against Irish Mixed Martial Arts champion McGregor, whose cut of the purse elevated him to fourth spot on the US business magazine’s list.

The fight pushed Mayweather’s career earnings to $1 billion, joining American basketball great Michael Jordan and golfer Tiger Woods as the only athletes to have reached 10-figures in earnings, Forbes said.

Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who topped the rankings for the last two years, slipped to third in the standings behind his Argentine rival Lionel Messi.

Brazil’s Neymar, who became the world’s most expensive soccer player after his $260 million move from Barcelona to Paris St Germain last August, was listed fifth.

Swiss tennis great Roger Federer, basketball players LeBron James and Stephen Curry and National Football League quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford rounded out the top 10 of the 100 wealthy athletes.

There were no women in the list, with tennis icon Serena Williams, the sole female representative last year, having dropped out of the rankings after taking a break from the sport due to the birth of her daughter.

Top 20 (lists under athlete/nationality/sport/estimated earnings): 1. Floyd Mayweather (US) Boxing $285 million 2. Lionel Messi (Argentina) Soccer $111 million 3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) Soccer $108 million 4. Conor McGregor (Ireland) MMA $99 million 5. Neymar (Brazil) Soccer $90 million 6. LeBron James (US) Basketball $85.5 million 7. Roger Federer (Switzerland) Tennis $77.2 million 8. Stephen Curry (US) Basketball $76.9 million 9. Matt Ryan (US) American football $67.3 million 10. Matthew Stafford (US) American football $59.5 million 11. Kevin Durant (US) Basketball $57.3 million 12. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Formula One $51 million 13. Russell Westbrook (US) Basketball $47.6 million 14. James Harden (US) Basketball $46.4 million 15. Canelo Alvarez (Mexico) Boxing $44.5 million 16. Tiger Woods (US) Golf $43.3 million 17. Drew Brees (US) American football $42.9 million 18. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Formula One 42.3 million 19. Derek Carr (US) American football $42.1 million 20. Rafael Nadal (Spain) Tennis $41.4 million.

JERUSALEM: Israel on Wednesday blamed Palestinian pressure for Argentina’s cancellation of its World Cup warmup against Israel, a match that had been set for contested Jerusalem.

The Palestinians accused Israel of using the fixture and the participation of Barcelona ace Lionel Messi to underpin its disputed claim to Jerusalem, which US President Donald Trump recognized last year as Israel’s capital in a break from international consensus.