Brisbane International: Maria Sharapova cruises into semi-finals with win over Carla Suarez Navarro
Thursday 8 January 2015 12:35, UK
Top seed Maria Sharapova wasted little time in booking her spot in the semi-finals of the Brisbane International with a straight sets victory over Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.
The 27-year-old Russian was on court for 69 minutes in registering a 6-1 6-3 triumph over the world No 17.
Sharapova broke serve four times in a one-sided opening set and, at one stage during the contest, won nine out of 10 games.
Sharapova dominated her opponent’s second serve but, despite the comfortable win, admitted giving the No 7 seed plenty of respect.
Suarez Navarro had beaten Sharapova in Montreal during the 2014 north American hardcourt season and the five-time Grand Slam winner said: "I'm always a little bit aware of girls that I lose to.
"I certainly know that she's capable of playing really well. She plays defence great and makes you hit a lot of balls especially on a slower court like here.
“You just don't want to give her that much time to play her game. I thought I did a good job of that today.
"Maybe I made a little too many unforced errors in the beginning but I finished strong."
Sharapova has conceded just five games in her two matches in Brisbane so far.
She now faces 20-year-old Ukrainian Elina Svitolina who recovered from a set and 0-3 down to beat No 3 seed Angelique Kerber 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Ana Ivanovic also made it through to the semi-finals after recovering from an awful start to beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Ivanovic looked anything but the world No 4 as she lost the opening five games, prompting her coach Dejan Petrovic to join her in an animated courtside chat.
Kanepi double faulted when she had the chance to wrap up the set 6-0 then Ivanovic responded by breaking her serve and reeling off the next four games.
Kanepi regained her composure to eventually take the set but the momentum was with Ivanovic and the Serbian ran away with the last two sets to win 4-6 6-4 6-3.
Ivanovic will now play American Varvara Lepchenko after she beat Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 7-5 7-5.
