Maria Sharapova meets Martina Hingis in Pan Pacific Open semifinals
Maria Sharapova, the dfending champion of Pan Pacific Open, defeated Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-4 at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Gymnasium on Friday.
Maria Sharapova banked on her strong serve and solid groundstrokes to complete a convincing win over Australian Samatha Stosur - beat Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the previous round - and moved to semifinals of the event.
The stage for semifinal is set for a clash with former world number 1 Martina Hingis, who entered the tournament as a wild card, defeated Russian Maria Kirilenko, 6-2, 6-1.
“It should be really exciting,” Maria Sharapova expressed her excitment over the semifinal matchup with Hingis “I’ve never played her before. Obviously it will be a tough match and I’ll have to play well.”
Maria Sharapova hopes use of her strong serve will be the difference in Saturday’s semifinal.
The world number four tennis player, Maria said “It will be very important to serve well and hold serve.”
“Martina returns the ball well and sees it well so it’s important not to give her much time. I’ll try to attack her serve because that’s one of her weaknesses,” is Maria Sharapova’s gameplan agianst Hingis.