Fourth seed Maria Sharapova beat sixth seed Nadia Petrova 7-6 6-4 in an all-Russian quarter-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Sharapova started slowly before fighting back to take the first set in a tiebreak then added the second set to seal victory in two hours and reach the semi-finals without dropping a set in the tournament.
Petrova had two set points in the tiebreak and also served for the set in the 10th and 12th games but could not hold off Sharapova, who raised her game when it mattered.
Sharapova, Wimbledon champion in 2004 and a semi-finalist in Melbourne last year, plays either top seed Lindsay Davenport or eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in Thursday's semi-finals.
January 24th, 2006
Posted by: Marco
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