Friday, August 13, 2010

Sharapova goes to semifinals in Cincinnati

10th seed Maria Sharapova made her way to the Cincinnati semifinals this evening with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of 16th seed Marion Bartoli. Bartoli, who served so well in her quarterfinal match against Caroline Wozniacki, could not command her service game the way she did in that match. Sharapova, on the other hand, won with 97% of her first serves. She also hit nine aces.

Unfortunately, it isn't at all unusual for Bartoli to have a great service game, and follow it with one that just isn't good enough.

Sharapova will play countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals, and the former world number 1 is the favorite.

The other semifinal will be played between 4th seed Kim Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic, who are also former number 1 players.

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