Serena destroys Sharapova for semis berth

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Serena destroys Sharapova for semis berth

World number 169 and former leader Serena Williams has flown into the Stanford semi finals after crashing second favorite Maria Sharapova in two sets 6-1, 6-3. The American has now gone 6-0 in the previous six meetings with the Russian who has only won one title this season, in Doha.

Serena picked five breaks against Sharapova who could only convert one out of four break point opportunities, prevailing in one hour and ten minutes. Four of the five breaks came in the opener which Serena claimed in nearly half an hour. She finished the game with six aces, a first 59 first serve percentage and a 59 percentage on return, winning at the same time 65 percent of service points, compared to Maria who came up with a 61 first serve percentage, seven double faults and a poor 35 return percentage which cost her sixth loss to the American.

Said this term’s French Open finalist Sharapova: “It’s sport. You win some, you lose some. You move on. It certainly wasn’t my day today. She was serving and returning quite powerfully, and I felt I was extremely late. I didn’t have my timing today at all. Even when I had chances to change things around, I didn’t do it.”

The head to head series between the two former world numbers one have gone 7-2 to Serena who had previously defeated Sharapova at the Wimbledon Grand Slam last year. Maria’s last victory comes from the 2004 Tour Championships. The Russian was following a hard match against Daniela Hantuchova, winner in Pattaya City this year, who, she had ousted in three sets 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. On the other side, Williams had previously eliminated Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round and Anastasia Rodionova 6-0, 6-0 in the first one.

Next up for Serena is this year’s Birmingham champion and world number 26 Sabine Lisicki whom the American will meet for the first time ever. The German edged Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 in two hours and a half. Fifth seed Lisicki broke her opponent four times, saving at the same time 13 break point chances created by her opponent who also broke four of German’s services.

Both players won 57 percent of service points and both finished with a 43 return percentage. It was a tight game which saw both players stay in touch with the victory and go head to head until the last second. Lisicki had previously beaten Romania Simona Halep, but also a main favorite Samantha Stosur 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.

Concerning the first half of the table, third seed Bartoli has set a fifth meeting with Dominka Cibulkova when the French’s opponent Ayumi Morita abandoned the game at 1-6 down. Bartoli managed to break her opponent twice in the first set, but an injury forced the Japanese to pull over minutes after the first set. Next up for her is Cibulkova who beat Marina Rakovic, a qualifier in Stanford, in two sets, 6-1, 6-1, prevailing in just over an hour.

The Slovak broke her opponent five times and saved five of five break point chances coming from the other side. Cibulkova finished the game with a 63 first serve percentage, four aces, winning 67 percent of service points and 58 on return. As for the New Zealand revelation, she came up with a 53 first serve percentage, four aces, three double faults and a poor 33 return percentage. She also won just 42 percent of return points, insufficient to hinder her opponent of claiming an easy win.

The head to head series between the world numbedr nine Bartoli and Cibulkova has gone 2-2, with the lat victory belonging to the young Slovak who last defeated the 26-year-old at the 2008 Moscow event. Bartoli’s last win comes from the 2008 Stuttgart event. All the previous matches between the two were played the same year.

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