Sharapova beats Li to make China Open final

BEIJING (AFP) –

Russia’s Maria Sharapova hits a return against China’s Li Na during their semi-final match at the China Open in Beijing. Sharapova overcame the home favourite with a comfortable 6-4, 6-0 win over Li.

World number two Maria Sharapova overcame home favourite Li Na in straight sets on Saturday to make the final of the China Open, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga triumphed in the last four of the men’s draw.

The 25-year-old Russian defeated Li, Asia’s only Grand Slam winner, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the final for the first time in five attempts, but it took the French Open champion a while to break into her stride.

Li sped to an early 3-1 lead due to some poor serving by Sharapova, including three consecutive double faults in one game, but the Russian fought back, winning three games in a row before taking the set with a break.

“It was a really high-quality first set with a few ups and downs and obviously she (Li) had the lead,” Sharapova said.

“In those first few games I thought my percentage of first serve was low.

“Against someone like Li Na who likes to step in and take the ball early, I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to have to hit too many second serves.

“My goal after that was just to get my first-serve percentage much higher than it was in the first three or four games,” she added.

China’s Li Na hits a backhand return against Russia’s Maria Sharapova during their semi-final match at the China Open in Beijing. Sharapova cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Li and will now face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in Sunday’s final.

“I came back and then I broke her in that last game of the first set. It was important for me to take that momentum going into the second.”

And continue her momentum she did, taking six games without reply to steamroll Li — who has never won her home tournament — in little over half an hour.

“She had a better performance than I did and she had better control of the match, but I think I played pretty well today,” Li said.

Sharapova will play world number one Victoria Azarenka in the final after the Belarusian beat ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-2.

In the men’s draw third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France marched into the final when Spain’s Feliciano Lopez retired during the second set of their match.

The world number seven thrashed Lopez 6-1 in the first set and was 4-1 up in the second when the left-handed Spaniard called it a day, citing an injury to his left wrist.

“I played really well and I felt really good on the court,” Tsonga said. “I didn’t know before he was a bit injured. I’m just happy today with my game.”

The Frenchman has enjoyed an easy progression to the final of the Beijing tournament since needing three sets to overcome Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the first round.

The 27-year-old received a walkover in the second round after Nikolay Davydenko withdrew and beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets in the third.

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga returns a shot during his quarter-final match against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny at the China Open in Beijing. Tsonga won 6-3, 6-2 and marched into the final after his semi-final opponent Feliciano Lopez had to retire with a wrist injury. Tsonga was leading 6-1, 4-1 in the semi-final match.

“During this week my level has got better and better,” Tsonga said.

“I have played maybe some of my best tennis here. I haven’t played like this in couple of months and maybe a couple of years now and that’s why I think I can win the final tomorrow.”

Serbia’s world number two and top seed Novak Djokovic meets Germany’s Florian Mayer in the second semi-final on Saturday.