Russian third seed Maria Sharapova advanced to her first Indian Wells WTA/ATP Masters Series semifinal on Thursday, beating Mary Pierce of France 6-4, 6-3, to extend her match-winning streak to 11 games.
”In the first few games, she was serving too good,” Sharapova said of Pierce. ”But I held my serve and I am very happy with the way I am playing.”
Sharapova ousted Pierce in 87 minutes, producing 24 winners and 21 unforced errors to Pierce’s 18 winners and 21 unforced errors.
Her victory set up a clash with American top seed Lindsay Davenport, who continued her domination over France’s Nathalie Dechy with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 victory.
In the men’s draw, Argentina’s Guillermo Canas out battled Englishman Tim Henman 7-6 (7/1), 7-5, advancing to the semifinals, while world number one Roger Federer took on German Nicolas Kiefer in the night match.
The 17-year-old Sharapova had a breakout year in 2004, winning five titles, including her first grand slam at Wimbledon.
Sharapova compiled a superb 55-15 record last year and picked up in 2005 where she left winning titles earlier this year in Tokyo and Doha.
On Thursday, Sharapova won 77% (23 of 30) of the first serves she got in, while Pierce struggled with her serve at 46% (30 of 65).
”I took away some of her big serves,” Sharapova said. ”She has a few favourite spots. I know where most of her serves are going to go, and I attacked her second serve.”
Sharapova’s win evened her career singles record against Pierce at 1-1. The only other time they met was at the 2004 US Open, where Pierce knocked Sharapova out of the final grand slam of the year.
”I learn a lot from my losses. They make me want to go out on the practice court and work a lot harder,” Sharapova said.
A victory in Indian Wells would put Sharapova in a position to claim the number-one ranking in Miami the following week.
”It is my future goal. But I am not putting pressure on myself by saying it has to be in two weeks, three weeks or in the next six months. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” Sharapova said.
Asked if she was playing better than she did when she won Wimbledon, Sharapova said: ”I am getting there. Wimbledon was on grass. But physically I feel I can be on the court a lot longer and I recovered quickly from my last match, which was a three-setter.”
Sharapova has beaten Davenport the past two times they have played.
”I feel I know what I need to do, and hopefully I will go out there and play as well as I did today,” Sharapova said.
Davenport and Dechy have a little more history between them. It was their seventh career meeting, with Davenport having won every one, including a straight-set victory over Dechy in the semis of the California desert hard-court tournament last year.
Davenport was the more aggressive of the two on Thursday, firing five aces and saving eight of 14 (57%) break-point chances.
”I started the match off strong and played the second set really well,” Davenport said. ”Just some bad games thrown in there in the first.”
After committing 23 unforced errors in the first set, she made just three errors in a 22-minute second set.
She said the turning point was when she held serve in the 12th game of the first set after being broken on her previous two service games.
”I let her back in the set so many times,” Davenport said. ”I really felt like once I held to get to six-all that I never looked back from that point.”
Dechy felt worn out after beating Emilie Loit, Samantha Stosur and Jessica Kirkland and spending an average of two hours and eight minutes on the court in her first three matches.
”It was more a physical drop-off,” Dechy said. ”I started to be late on the ball and didn’t run as fast.”
Unseeded Kim Clijsters battles fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva in the other semifinal.
There is no clear-cut favourite this year as three of the top four women’s seeds are still alive. Clijsters, who missed most of last year with injuries, is in form and also a threat to take the title. — Sapa-AFP