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Maria Sharapova is a Russian professional tennis player.
Sharapova subdues Myskina
By Bill Scott, dpa Miami (dpa) - Maria Sharapova put on a fighting performance for her first win in two years against fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina, booking into the semifinals of the 6.9-million-dollar Miami Masters 6-3, 6-3 Wednesday night. Victory, after a second set riddled with five breaks in nine games, handed the Russian fourth seed her fifth last-four spot from as many tournaments in 2006. "I definitely stepped it up in this match, and I knew I had to," Sharapova said. "I had some letdowns in my first three matches, and I knew that wouldn't be able to get away with it today." Sharapova will line up in an teenager battle against Moscow-born French player Tatiana Golovin, who rallied past China's Jie Zheng 3- 6, 6-3, 6-2 to win a quarterfinal littered with 27 break points. Miami-based Golovin got the last word in a two-hour, two-minute contest as Jie double-faulted for the fourth time to lose. Sharapova is looking to back up her trophy from Indian Wells this month. She lost three of four previous meetings with Myskina, all played in 2004, the year each won a Grand Slam title. Sharapova lost the Miami final in 2005 to Kim Clijsters. The Russian now stands 20-3 this season. "I knew I had to be consistent against her. That's her biggest strength," said Sharapova. "She's not going to overpower me, she's just going to try to make me hit another ball. "I took my opportunities, took my chances, and that was important." Sharapova owns a pair of wins over Golovin. "I didn't play that well in the first," said Golovin after beating Jie. "She surprised me by the way she played. You could see she had no pressure and wanted to go out there and win. "I was a little bit nervous, but mentally I was really tough and kept fighting through to the end. That's what got me through." Men's sixth seed Ivan Ljubicic kept pace in the match-win chase behind Roger Federer. The Croation earned his 24th victory of the season through a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 quarterfinal defeat of Argentina's Agustin Calleri. With world number 1 Federer putting a 25-1 mark on the line in a Thursday night quarter with on-fire American James Blake, Ljubicic has served notice that he's out to mount a challenge to the Swiss. His Croatian Davis Cup teammate Mario Ancic was elimianted 6-2, 6- 2 by Argentine third seed David Nalbandian. Ljubicic posted 34 winners in just over 90 minutes as he ousted Calleri for the fourth time without a loss to run his record in 2006 to 24-3. Ljubicic already owns two titles this year, from Chennai and his new home event in Zagreb last month. He next plays the winner from a later quarter-final between Davis Cup teammate and doubles partner Mario Ancic and Argentine third seed David Nalbandian. "Finally, I'm happy with how I played," said the consistent Croatian. "Today I served amazingly, I dominated on serve. "He played a good first set, he was very aggressive. But in the second set he dropped his pace a bit," he said of next week's Davis Cup quarter-final opponent for the tie in Croatia. 
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