Madrid: Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will play for the No. 1 ranking and the Madrid Open title after winning semifinals in straight sets Saturday. The top-ranked Williams will have a chance to win her 50th title after beating Sara Errani of Italy 7-5, 6-2. No. 2 Sharapova got her 500th win at all levels after defeating Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-3.
Sharapova has won all 10 sets she has played on Madrid's outdoor red clay court. Williams, however, boasts a 12-2 record against the Russian. After a skittish start, Williams dominated Errani and broke her final service game in both sets. "I feel I played solid," Williams said. "In the second set more than in the first, I made a few less errors, which is something I needed to do."
The defending champion improved to 5-0 against the seventh-ranked Errani and to 30-2 this year. Williams said Sharapova will pose a difficult challenge. "I feel this whole tournament I have only played clay-court opponents," said Williams. "All have been smaller than me. Tomorrow will be a different game, more power."
Later Saturday, Rafael Nadal played fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar and Tomas Berdych faced Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinals of the men's event. Williams struggled with her shot-making early, uncharacteristically misfiring on three smashes in the first set, which she still managed to pull out after falling behind 3-1....
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05:06 PM, May 11, 2013
Palermo: Roberta Vinci will face Petra Kvitova on the opening day of the Fed Cup semi-finals between Italy and the two-time defending champion Czech Republic. Vinci beat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova in straight sets in Poland last weekend to move up to a career-high ranking of No. 12. The semifinal opens Saturday with seventh-ranked Sara Errani facing the 25th-ranked Lucie Safarova. After reverse singles on Sunday on the red clay...
06:22 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Miami: India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Wednesday crashed out of the Sony Open Miami Masters after losing their women's doubles quarter-final match against world No.1 pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in straight sets at Crandon Park, here. The seventh seeded Indo-American pair lost 1-6, 4-6 in just 66 minutes, losing serve three times in each set. Sania and Bethanie started the proceedings on...
12:08 PM, Mar 27, 2013
Sharapova survived a tough battle with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro winning 7-5 6-3 to book her place in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open. ...
09:17 AM, Mar 11, 2013
Kvitova, who won 6-3 6-4, has yet to drop a set in Dubai, the world No.8 returning to form after failing to win more than two matches at any other tournament this year. ...
08:45 AM, Feb 23, 2013
Sara Errani reached her second final of the season on Friday, beating doubles partner Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-3. ...
11:45 PM, Feb 22, 2013
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won the first Australian Open title of 2013, beating Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. ...
02:52 PM, Jan 25, 2013
Istanbul: American Serena Williams reached the semi-finals at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul on Thursday with what is fast becoming a routine defeat of world number one Victoria Azarenka. The Wimbledon and U.S Open champion recorded a 6-4 6-4 win at the season-ending event, her fifth triumph over the Belarusian this year. Williams also owns an 11-1 record in their career head-to-heads. The win was Williams' third at the...
08:14 AM, Oct 26, 2012
Istanbul: Aggression powered Maria Sharapova to victory over Italy's Sara Errani in her opening match at the USD 4.9 million WTA championships here, the Russian said. In a repeat of their only previous meeting in June's French Open final, Sharapova emerged victorious by a score of 6-3, 6-2 against Errani on Tuesday. Cautious play allowed Errani to control the start of the match, when the first four games all went...
04:12 PM, Oct 24, 2012
Tokyo: Italy's Sara Errani ended the French resistance at the Pan Pacific Open, rallying to defeat ninth seed Marion Bartoli 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last eight of the WTA premier five event on Wednesday. The sixth seed finally overcame Bartoli after two hours and 22 minutes, clinching victory with a crunching forehand her opponent could only dump into the net. "I'm a bit tired but I have lots...
11:43 AM, Sep 26, 2012
New York: Serena Williams routed 10th seed Sara Errani of Italy 6-1 6-2 on Friday to advance to the US Open women's final against world number one Victoria Azarenka with a chance to crown her 'Golden Summer' at the year's last grand slam. The 30-year-old American overpowered the diminutive Errani, a French Open finalist and top-ranked doubles player in the world, registering 38 winners, including nine aces. Williams cut loose...
07:38 AM, Sep 08, 2012
New York: Roberta Vinci toppled second seed Agnieszka Radwanska to cap a rousing upset double for Italy at the US Open on Monday that also put her doubles partner Sara Errani into the women's singles quarter-finals. Errani, the 10th seed, beat sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6, 6-3, and 20th seed Vinci followed onto Louis Armstrong Stadium court for a 6-1, 6-4 shocker to end a doubly delightful afternoon for...
08:50 AM, Sep 04, 2012
London: Tenth seed Sara Errani crashed out of Wimbledon on Saturday against wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova, who became the first player to win every point in a set at the tournament. Shvedova won 6-0, 6-4 and utterly dominated the first set of the third-round match, preventing her Italian opponent from winning even one of the 24 points. The match pitted together two sensations of the French Open in Errani, a surprise...
10:01 PM, Jun 30, 2012
Wimbledon: Maria Sharapova overcame a second-set blip as she returned to the court for a second straight day to finish off a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria on Thursday to reach the third round at Wimbledon. The top-ranked Russian led 3-1 in the second set when the match was halted on Wednesday because of bad light, but she was broken in the first game...
07:18 PM, Jun 28, 2012
