Serena, Sharapova ready to renew bad blood in Paris

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova bring their career-long bitter feud to Roland Garros on Monday with the bad blood between the sport's two iconic stars threatening to boil over.

Sharapova has not defeated her fellow former world number one since 2004 -- a streak of 18 matches -- the same year she made her global breakthrough at Wimbledon as a slender teenager prone to fits of giggles.

The pair's eagerly-awaited showdown pushed Monday's other fourth round matches into the shade.

World number one Simona Halep, twice a runner-up, needed less than an hour to make the last-eight in Paris for the third time with a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Belgium's Elise Mertens.

"I was a little bit stronger in the important moments," said Halep. However, Australian Open champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out by Russia's Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

The 22nd match of the one-sided Williams-Sharapova rivalry will once again be played out against a familiar soundtrack of suspicion and bickering.

Williams, a triple French Open champion and 23-time major winner, has vented her anger over Sharapova's claims that she wept after losing the 2004 Wimbledon title match.

The 36-year-old described the references to her in Sharapova's recent memoir,
"Not long after I heard Serena told a friend, who then told me, 'I'll never lose to that little bitch again'."
- 'Black heart' -
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"She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."