Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova set for semi-final showdown

04:03 04/12/2013
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  • Burgeoning superstar Petra Kvitova and glamorous Russian Maria Sharapova set up a hotly anticipated rematch of last year’s Wimbledon decider in the Australian Open semi-finals after both won their last eight encounters comfortably.

    Kvitova, who enjoyed a breakthrough victory over Sharapova at SW19 in July, beat Italy’s Sara Errani 6-4, 6-4, before Sharapova, 2008 Australian Open champion, ended the fairytale run of 56th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3 to reach the last four.

    Kvitova needed to call on all her resources to see off the tricky Errani, who troubled the world No.2 with her guile and deception. The 21-year-old Kvitova broke Errani three times in the first set but lost her serve twice herself as the Italian made up for a lack of power with superb court coverage and clever shot-making.

    The Czech won a tight first set in 53 minutes, but allowed Errani to skip away to a 4-1 lead before recovering to win the next five games in a row.

    “In the beginning I was a little nervous because I knew that everybody expected it will be an easy match,” Kvitova said. “Probably I had in my head that it’s a good draw, but Sara played very well. I played like I wanted to have many winners in a short time and I made mistakes.”

    Kvitova is the first Czech woman to reach the Australian Open semis since Jana Novotna in 1991, and is now in the box seat to be the next women’s No.1, although Sharapova can also hit the top ranking if she lifts the trophy.

    And Russian poster girl of women’s tennis was impressive in her win against Makarova, who shocked five-time champion Serena Williams in the previous round and earlier upset seventh seed Vera Zvonareva.

    Sharapova easily handled her fellow Russian’s left-handed serves and overpowered her in the baseline rallies in an impressive display as she reached the final four in Melbourne for the first time since her triumph four years ago, when she claimed the most recent of her three major trophies.

    The Russian has since suffered injury problems and she said her return to contention for grand slam titles vindicated her hard work in recovery and training. “It’s been a long road back to this big stage, but after hitting the winning shot you look back and think everything was worth it, no matter how tough it was,” she said.

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