Maria Sharapova beat former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-1 6-7 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Nasdaq-100 Open on Tuesday to end the Belgian's comeback run.
Sharapova will play either Venus or Serena Williams in the semi-finals. The sisters play each other later on Tuesday evening.
After whipping through the first set in 27 minutes, the 17-year-old Russian had chances to win far more emphatically.
She served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and held three match-points only to be pegged back.
After the Belgian had taken the tiebreak to level the match, Sharapova received treatment on her lower back.
"I've had a back problem for a little while already," Sharapova said. "I did so much running today that it started to get stiff. I got some treatment and I just tried to forget about it. Hopefully I'll be back fresh."
The treatment seemed to help Sharapova and she broke Henin-Hardenne's serve to go 2-0 up in the third and never allowed her advantage to slip.
After two hours and 17 minutes she took the match with a backhand winner.
"Things can turn around quickly, that's tennis for you," said Sharapova. "I knew I had to lift my game in the third set because all of a sudden she was getting a lot more balls back. She's a huge fighter out there."
Henin-Hardenne was playing her first tournament since last year's U.S. Open.
In the semis Maria will play either Serena or Venus Williams of the United States.
View pictures of todays match
March 30th, 2005
Posted by: Marco
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