Sony Ericsson WTA Tour : 2006


Clijsters, Mauresmo, Sharapova and Henin-Hardenne Move Into Semifinals

It will be a battle of former No.1s in one of the 2006 Australian Open semifinals, as Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne both battled through their respective quarterfinal matches on Tuesday at Melbourne Park


For the third consecutive Grand Slam, Sharapova squared off with Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, and for the third consecutive time it was Sharapova who prevailed in a tight battle. In a fight between Russia\\\'s two highest-ranked players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, No.4 seed Sharapova defeated No.6 seed Petrova 76(6) 64 in just over two hours. Both sets were extremely competitive, with the two players trading breaks three times in the first set en route to a tie-break, where Petrova blew two set points leading 6-4, eventually double-faulting at 6-7 to give Sharapova a one-set lead. Sharapova carried her winning momentum into the second set, building a seemingly insurmountable 4-1, two-break lead, but Petrova fought back, breaking back for 4-3 and nearly gaining the second break back when Sharapova fell behind 0-40 trying to serve the match out at 5-4. However, the 18-year-old won five consecutive points against the 23-year-old to move into her second straight Australian Open semifinal and improve to 4-1 lifetime against her compatriot. The match was riddled with unforced errors, but it was Sharapova who had the cleaner numbers of the two, compiling a -21 differential (15 winners, 36 errors) compared to her opponent\\\'s -31 (16 winners, 49 errors).

\\\"It was definitely not easy,\\\" Sharapova said. \\\"I was having trouble with the direction of the wind. It was going in one direction the whole match. When I was playing against the wind, I would hit the ball harder with more spin on my serve. Then when I would go to the other side, I\\\'d do the same thing, and it felt like the ball was just going way out... I just tried to hang in there. It\\\'s really tough being down two set points. But I gutted it out in the first point, then had an easy second point. It definitely wasn\\\'t easy.\\\"

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