Sharapova has been made an honourary member of at Edgbaston

Maria Sharapova reached the last four of the Aegon Classic for the seventh successive occasion with a 6-2 6-4 win over Sesil Karatantcheva in Birmingham.

Second seed Sharapova broke her Kazakh opponent's serve three times in the first set and she unleashed a torrent of baseline strokes to take the second.

Sharapova will play qualifier Alison Riske, who beat third seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3.

Top seed Li Na is also through after a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win over Angelique Kerber.

The German 13th seed pushed her opponent all the way but could not break down the Chinese world number 11's game.

Li will play Kaia Kanepi in the quarter-finals after the Estonian beat Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-2 6-2.

Belgian Wickmayer, who continued to play despite a bleeding lip, double-faulted in the sixth game of the final set to hand Riske the decisive break.

And the 19-year-old American held on to serve to clinch the win.

France's fourth seed Aravane Rezai also booked her last-four place following a 7-6 7-5 win over Italy's Sara Errani.

Russian Sharapova, 22, recently returned to action after nine months on the sidelines because of a shoulder injury.

"I definitely feel in a better situation this year than last," said the two-time Birmingham winner, who has been made an honorary life member of the Edgbaston Priory Club.

"Last year I wasn't sure how my arm was going to hold up, and I was always on the watch-out for that, but I feel much better about it now."

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