Sport
Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova in Madrid- advances to semis
Serena Williams from U.S. returns the ball to Maria Sharapova during the Madrid Open. PHOTO/AP
Serena Williams brushed aside Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the Madrid Open semifinals along with top-ranked Victoria Azarenka on Friday.
Williams sealed her seventh straight win over Sharapova with an emphatic slam on the new blue-clay court.
Earlier in the Spanish capital, Azarenka overcame a shaky start to beat French Open winner Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Williams opened strong, hitting six aces and earning two early breaks to take the first set against the second-ranked Russian.
Sharapova finally showed some fight and broke for love to even the score at 2-2 in the second set, but she quickly squandered her break with a costly sixth double fault to fall behind for good.
Williams, who improved to 11-0 on clay this year, will face either U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur or Czech Lucie Hradecka.
After Azarenka struggled on serve early on, last year’s runner-up found her stride and broke her Chinese opponent’s first two service games of the second set en route to pulling even at a set each.
Azarenka, who has won four titles this season, then used her powerful groundstrokes to jump out to an insurmountable 4-0 lead in the decider before holding off Li’s late charge.
