 Sharapova is trying to win her fifth title of 2006 |
Maria Sharapova overcame Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria. Sharapova needed two attempts to serve out the match before setting up a clash with Patty Schnyder.
Fourth seed Nicole Vaidisova fought back to beat sixth seed Jelena Jankovic 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
The 17-year-old Czech set up a chance of revenge for her semi-final defeat in Moscow last week against Nadia Petrova, who beat Samantha Stosur 6-1 6-3.
In Friday's final match, third seed Schnyder defeated Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
Vaidisova served an impressive 20 aces as she fought back to beat Jankovic.
"All these aces helped me a lot because I missed too many chances in the rallies," she said.
Sharapova was uncharacteristically fragile at times against Ivanovic, missing three set points while serving at 5-4 in the first set.
The Russian then led 5-2 in the second set but double-faulted twice while serving for the match and was broken.
"I didn't know Ana's game too well as we had never met before, but she played some amazing tennis," said Sharapova.
"I shouldn't have let her come back in the second set. I hope to learn from that."
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