Sharapova, Kvitova now into semi final Australian Open

Australian Open: Sharapova, Kvitova into semis.

Maria Sharapova set up an Australian Open semi-final with Petra Kvitova after disposing of fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets. Makarova came into the match on the back of a superb win over Serena Williams, but she could not repeat the dose against Sharapova who dominated the contest from the back of the court as she claimed a 6-2 6-3 victory. Sharapova began in shaky fashion, double faulting twice in the opening game, but she held serve and rarely looked back. Makarova had to save four break points in the opening game as Sharapova stepped in on anything short. The relentless pressure continued and the first break of serve came her way in the fourth game. The one moment of alarm in the opening set for Sharapova came in the fifth game, but she staved off a break point with a precision ace down the middle. Makarova dominated Williams in the fourth round, but could not impose herself on Sharapova and two brilliant backhand returns of serve secured the set for the No. 4 seed. Sharapova dropped just 10 points on serve in the opening set, but Makarova carved out an opening in the third game of the second set to secure her first break of the match. But she made the cardinal sin of failing to back up the break as Sharapova roared back with an immediate reply. For all her power, Sharapova has often been restricted by her lack of fluency around the court. But against Makarova she demonstrated excellent movement the highlight arguably being when tracking down a drop shot and flicking it away for a winner as she secured a break of serve for a 4-2 advantage. Sharapova passed up a match point on the Makarova serve when netting a routine backhand, but she took advantage of the new balls one game later to seal her place in the last four. Kvitova booked her place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open after overcoming a wobble to beat Sara Errani. Kvitova, the No. 2 seed, came into the match as the overwhelming favourite. She held sway over her rival in most departments, but errors leaked from her racket and she had to battle back from 4-1 down in the second set to win 6-4 6-4. Errani s serve was a worry for her supporters ahead of the match and Kvitova seized on a run of second serves, running her rival around the court, and worked a break in the opening game. Errani levelled in the following game as Kvitova s timing went astray. But with Errani serving at below 70mph, Kvitova teed off to break for a second time. Wimbledon champion Kvitova worked a double break to lead 5-2, but promptly threw in a couple of awful games to hand an opening to Errani. But the Czech steeled herself to hold and wrap up the opening set in 53 minutes. The superior power Kvitova possessed looked set to see her home as she broke at the start of the second. But she mixed the sublime with the ridiculous and some sloppy play, coupled with some inventive shot-making from Errani, helped the Italian run through four games on the spin. The frustration was evident for Kvitova, who skulked around the court between points. The low point came when she missed a simple drive volley in the seventh game. It was followed by a huge shriek of frustration, but two points later she had broken serve and ran through the next three games in the blink of an eye to seal her passage to a meeting with Sharapova.