Sharapova, Schnyder Advance to San Diego Finals

SAN DIEGO, CA, USA - Head-to-head overcame form on Saturday in San Diego as Maria Sharapova, who hasn't won a title all year, cruised past Anna Chakvetadze, a four-time titlist this year, in straight sets in the Acura Classic semifinals. In Sunday's final, she will take on No.11 seed Patty Schnyder.

In the afternoon battle, Sharapova drew first blood against No.3 seed Chakvetadze by breaking service in the fifth game of the match, one of eventually five breaks that would carry her to a 63 62 victory over her fellow 20-year-old Russian starlet.

"I did what I had to do," Sharapova said. "Once I got the break in the second set I felt like I went on cruise control. I didn't feel as sharp as I did in the previous matches - I was making a lot of unforced errors off of the returns - but after the break, it was just a good situation to be in."

Sharapova improved to 5-0 against Chakvetadze, a head-to-head domination that includes routine quarterfinal wins at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

For Chakvetadze, the loss ends a 12-match win streak that propelled her to a pair of summer hardcourt titles, in Cincinnati and Stanford, as well as the semifinals here. The Muscovite was still reeling from a Friday evening quarterfinal win over Venus Williams, a victory in which she saved match point in the second set.

"I felt really tired, and Maria played really well," Chakvetadze said. "She hit a lot of winners, but I couldn't run and couldn't play. Maria is a great player and well done to her but I could not fight today like I did yesterday against Venus."

San Diego has been an excellent venue for both Russians. Chakvetadze had made the quarterfinals here in her only two previous appearances the last two years, while Sharapova was a quarterfinalist in 2004 and won it a year ago.

"It was a good tournament for me anyway," Chakvetadze continued. "I beat two good players. I had hoped to go further but I'm happy."

Sharapova's championship opponent Schnyder also took on a lengthy but much more even head-to-head record in the feature night match, beating No.9-seeded Elena Dementieva, 76(4) 60. Schnyder was up 5-3 in the first set before Dementieva took the lead away from her; the story was similar in the tie-break, with Schnyder and her 5-0 lead seemingly fading before she finally clinched it. That seemed to open the flood gates as she breezed through the second set, her first ever love set on Dementieva in 13 career meetings.

"I just served great in the tie-breaker, then I kept focusing in the second set," Schnyder said. "The conditions at night made it tough to be aggressive, so it was good my footwork was there and I could play my game. I was happy with today."

"I was trying to change something in the second set but she was playing very well today and it was difficult for me," Dementieva stated. "It's difficult to do what you want when she is dictating. She had answers for everything I was trying to do today. She's a very talented player, very unique. There is nobody like her."

Sharapova is 5-1 lifetime against Schnyder but they have all been struggles, four going to three sets and the Russian's two straight set wins both being tight. The semifinals here last year was the stage of one of those, with Sharapova defeating Schnyder, 75 64, but only after nearly squandering a 5-1 second set advantage.

"First of all, Maria is a great champion and I'm pretty happy about how I've been performing against her over the years," Schnyder added. "I'm still going into the match looking at her as the favorite, but we'll have to see how it goes."

In their most recent encounter Sharapova saved two match points to prevail, 36 64 97, in the fourth round of Roland Garros. And although Sharapova should seemingly prefer to play the craftier Schnyder on a quicker surface, the Swiss thinks about it another way.

"It's going to be a completely different match to our last one," Schnyder added. "At the French, I always consider myself the favorite, which puts extra pressure on me and my game. It's a matter of who will be better tomorrow."

Both doubles semifinals were also played on Saturday, with top-seeded tandem Cara Black and Liezel Huber bouncing No.3 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, 46 64 105, and Chakvetadze and Victoria Azarenka dismissing No.2-seeded duo Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, 62 36 106. Black and Huber are competing for the first time since winning their third major as a team on the lawns of Wimbledon, and are chasing their sixth title of the year. Azarenka and Chakvetadze were finalists at Stanford last week as well, falling to Sania Mirza and Shahar Peer. (WTA)