Sharapova sets up all-Russian semi-final
ZURICH: Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova beat former world number one Venus Williams 6-3, 6-4 yesterday to reach the semi-finals of the Zurich Challenge event.
Frequently putting Williams on the back foot in a battle of past and present Wimbledon winners, the 17-year-old Russian further underlined her country's current domination of the women's game.
The world number seven was in almost constant control, combining fierce ground strokes and ferocious returns of serve to win in just 75 minutes.
It was her 11th victory in in a row, following on from tournament triumphs in Seoul and Tokyo.
Sharapova, seeded fourth in Zurich, will now take on third seed Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian semi-final.
Dementieva advanced to the last four earlier on Friday with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 win over Japanese ninth seed Ai Sugiyama.
The Russian world number five had looked on course for a convincing victory after easing through the opening set in 22 minutes.
Against Sharapova, Dementieva will be looking to end something of a jinx when it comes to playing her compatriot.
The 22-year-old was a finalist at both the French and US Opens this year, but was beaten on both occasions, by Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova respectively.
Dementieva has also lost to Russian opponents in three of her last five tournaments.
n MADRID: Argentina's David Nalbandian set up a semi-final battle against heavy serving Croatian Ivan Ljubicic after overwhelming American Taylor Dent 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 yesterday at the Madrid Masters.
In contrast to the 27 aces Ljubicic rained down in his earlier 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3) upset of seventh seed Joachim Johansson, the game of Nalbandian, the fourth seed, was decidedly more gentle.
Nalbandian managed four against Dent, supplemented by 35 winners and two breaks of serve. The Argentine was competing in his third quarter-final in his last four tournaments dating to the US Open.
Ljubicic, 29th in the world, has Masters Series semi-final experience to call upon from Hamburg last spring.
The 25-year-old who spent part of his childhood in a Bosnian war zone has little to fear, he said, because he feels he can produce a challenge to every opponent.
"I've played semis in Hamburg, that was a much bigger surprise than this. Everybody knows that I can play well on indoor courts. I beat (Rainer) Schuettler and (Tim) Henman back to back and now Joachim."
The Johansson-Ljubicic, battle, which lasted a gruelling two hours, 41 minutes, was completed without a single break of serve. – Agencies
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