Sharapova’s Win Over Errani Sets Up Miami Semis Match Against Jankovic

Maria Sharapova defeated Sara Errani in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 to reach the semifinals of the 2013 Sony Open Tennis in Miami. Sharapova had the early momentum in the 80-minute first set, building a 5-3 lead and holding two set points in that game, as Errani fought them both off and evened the proceedings to 5-5, but it was to no avail as Sharapova broke one more time in the next game and served the opening frame out, 7-5.

"Sara is extremely difficult to play," Sharapova said. "She doesn’t have the height or the power, but she gets so many balls back and stays so consistent, and does it over and over again. She is so consistent. She also has great court coverage and variety. She really makes you work. She can do a lot of things with that court coverage and variety when she has time, so my success in the beginning of the match and in some other points was when I didn’t give her that opportunity. But most of the time I did, and that’s why she kept coming back and kept playing really well out there."

Up next for Sharapova is Jelena Jankovic, who rallied from 2-0 down in the third set to beat Roberta Vinci. Jankovic has now won nine of her last 10 matches—she went 5-0 to win her first WTA title in three years at Bogotá, lost her opening match at Indian Wells and has now won her first four matches in Miami.

"I had some ups and downs in the match, but I’m very happy I managed to get through," Jankovic said. "In the first set I was down 2-0 and managed to come back and get the set. In the second set I was playing pretty well in a lot of games but was losing a lot of them, especially at the beginning when I went down 3-0, I managed to come back but in the tie-break she played some really good points at the net. And in the third I was down again, 2-0, but thankfully I managed to get control in the end. Her game is difficult. It’s tough to get underneath the ball when you play her. It was a difficult match and not an easy match at all for me, but again I’m happy to win and make the semifinals."

Sharapova leads Jankovic in their head-to-head series, 6-1, though two of Sharapova’s wins came via retirement and four of their five completed matches went three sets. The second semi features Serena Williams against the number four seed Agnieszka Radwanska, a series that Serena leads 4-0.