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Maria Sharapova Battles Back To Reach Toronto Semifinals
By Anton Lagani, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Saturday, August 22, 2009 7:17am PST USA
Maria Sharapova Battles Back To Reach Toronto Semifinals, US Open, Lawn Tennis Magazine TORONTO--(lawntennis.org) Late last night just when it looked as if a third set was eminent, the former world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia battled back from a 2-5 second set deficit to close out the 14th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 7-6(7-5) to reach today's Roger's Cup semifinals.

Sharapova, who saw her ranking plummet from number one in May of last year to number 126 in May of this year, took nine months off from the WTA Tour following a an October shoulder surgery.

The Russian, know for her glamorous looks, loud screams during play, and very aggressive groundstrokes, is currently ranked number 49 and stands a slim chance of obtaining a ranking high enough for a US Open seed with a final round showing this week in Toronto.

The US Open begins August 31st in New York. Sharapova took her lone US Open title in 2006.

Friday night in the last of the four Roger's Cup quarterfinals, Sharapova quickly utilized her powerful groundstrokes to score two breaks of service for a 4-1 first set lead.

A Sharapova crosscourt swinging forehand volley winner sealed the set at 6-2.

Maria Sharapova of Russia | Image: Getty
Maria Sharapova Battles Back To Reach Toronto Semifinals, Lawn Tennis Magazine US Open Series, Maria Sharapova Battles Back To Reach Toronto Semifinals, Lawn Tennis Magazine
The Russian, know for her glamorous looks, loud screams during play, and very aggressive groundstrokes, is currently ranked number 49 and stands a slim chance of obtaining a ranking high enough for a US Open seed with a final round showing this week in Toronto.

But in set two with the Russian somewhat more hesitant and reluctant to close out points, Radwanska served harder and hit deeper to jump out to a 5-2 lead.

Sharapova's serve continued it's second set pattern of inconsistency as serving to stay in the set, the Russian served up a doublefault before hitting an ace down the tee to reach 5-3.

More and more costly errors from Radwanska did not help her cause as she netted a dropshot to lose her serve for 5-4.

Connecting with and increasing number of winners and forcing more play, Sharapova held serve the broke to lead 6-5.

But two down the line groundstoke winners from Radwanska sent the second set into a tiebreaker as the score was even at 6 all.

In the tiebreaker, Ranwanska took a 2-0 lead before Sharapova won six points in a row to lead 6-2. An overpowering Sharapova forehand down the line return of serve forced a netted Ranwanska forehand on matchpoint number five.

Sharapova, one of the most powerful players of the WTA Tour, would finish the match with 42 winners.

In today's Toronto semifinals, the 4th seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia meets the 2nd seeded Serena Williams of the USA (3:00pm EST USA Live on ESPN2) while Sharapova takes on the 36th ranked Alisa Kleybanova also of Russia (7:00pm EST USA Live on the Tennis Channel).

In their first meeting ever, Sharapova could face tough opposition from Kleybanova, who plays a Lindsay Davenport-type power baseline game.

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