Sharapova ends Petkovic run

Maria Sharapova reached her first final of the year in impressive style as she powered back from dropping the first set to beat Andrea Petkovic at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Germany’s Petkovic had been the surprise of the tournament, knocking out world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round and Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals.

She looked well set to add Sharapova to her victims, but the 23-year-old had no answer to Sharapova’s fightback as the Russian won 3-6 6-0 6-2 in two hours and seven minutes.

Sharapova won titles in Memphis and Strasbourg last year, and now has her eyes on one of the biggest prizes in women’s tennis.

Asked what it would mean to triumph in Saturday’s final, Sharapova said: “It would mean a lot. It’s the biggest tournament I think after the grand slams.

“I look forward to going out there and getting it done.

“I feel like I’m finding my form.”

Victory for the 16th seed over the 21st seed saw Sharapova avenge her defeat to Petkovic at the Australian Open.

Petkovic freely admitted she ran out of steam in the match, with efforts in the previous rounds catching up with her.

“By the end of the second set I was getting frustrated with myself because I felt my energy slowly slipping away,” she said.

“Of course I’m in a semi-final and I wanted to win this, so there was a little dialogue inside.

“You’re like, ’Come on, you can win this’, but your body is like, ’No, I don’t want to’.

“I was fighting with myself inside.

“A champion like Maria, she just feels any kind of weakness, and she just played much, much better.”

Sharapova goes on to face either Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or her fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final.