Maria Sharapova reached the Madrid Open semifinals by defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6—1, 3—6, 6—3 on Thursday.
The Russian continued the defence of her title by breaking the fifth-seeded Wozniacki’s serve five times, completing the win in almost exactly 2 hours.
The third-seeded Sharapova is chasing an 11th WTA title on clay, although the surface remains unpopular with the Russian.
After the hard-court tournament in Miami ends, Sharapova says “it’s a bittersweet moment” when she has to get her clay-court shoes out. She said it reminds her that “OK, the next three months are going to be very tough.”
Sharapova will play either Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia or Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
