Life of Guangzhou - Women´s Tennis : Sharapova Beats Yan Zi

Russian stars Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva have made it through to the semi-finals of the Watsons Water Champions Challenge in Hong Kong. On Thursday, Top seed Sharapova faced a tough challenge from Chinese doubles specialist Yan Zi but managed to come through. She will now face Dementieva who recovered from a slow start to beat Czech teenager, Nicole Vaidisova.

Sharapova beats Yan Zi

Maria Sharapova made a fine start by racing into a 5-2 lead.

But some untimely double faults and a game opponent in Yan Zi soon saw her pegged back to 5-5 with Sharapova frustrated by her inability to close the set out.

Sharapova regained her composure to break again in the following game and, after another long baseline rally, a backhand error from Yan Zi handed her the first set 7-5.

The world number two looked like she was going to make short work of the second set, forcing the pace to again go into a 5-2 lead.

Yan Zi broke to prolong the match but Sharapova broke straight back to go through to the semi-finals 7-5, 6-3.

Dementieva defeats Vaidisova

Meanwhile in another match, Elena Dementieva of Russia took on Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic. Vaidisova made an excellent start and took the first set 6-3.

While Dementieva--combined with some indifferent serving from Vaidisova--helped her secure an early break in the second set, which she took 6-3.

In the third set, Dementieva managed to hold her own serve before breaking her teenage opponent twice to go 5-2 up. She finished the match off with an ace, winning 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2.