February 03, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 14, 1428

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TOKYO, Feb 2: World number one Maria Sharapova struggled with her serve again before beating Japan’s Ai Sugiyama in three sets to reach the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals on Friday.

The Russian top seed, who hit 17 double faults in three sets on Thursday, committed another 14 double faults before finally seeing off Sugiyama 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

In the semi-finals on Saturday, Sharapova will take on fifth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, who eliminated her compatriot and fourth seed Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The other semi will be a re-match of last year's final between Swiss former world number one Martina Hingis and defending champion Elena Dementieva of Russia.

“I felt worried about my serve too much in the first set. That was the reason for me not being aggressive enough. Obviously some part of my game was off and in this tournament it's my serve,” said Sharapova. “But I thought I did a good job just focusing on what I have to do, even if I gave her many free points off my serve.

“I played enough matches in the last couple of weeks. Getting into a Grand Slam final (at the Australian Open) definitely gave me some confidence,” added the US Open champion.The 19-year-old Russian, the winner here in 2005, failed to keep a service break up in the beginning as she hit her third double fault on a break point to be pegged back at 3-3. She hit another double fault to go to deuce in the 10th game, allowing Sugiyama eventually to take the set with an excellent backhand down the line.But that turned out to be Sugiyama's best moment as Sharapova dominated the rest of the 87-minute match.

Meanwhile, second-seeded Hingis, seeking a record fifth title here, needed only 42 minutes to beat Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-0, 6-1, while third seed Elena Dementieva of Russia whipped Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-2.

Results (x denotes seeds)

Quarter-finals: Maria Sharapova (RUS x1) bt Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1; Ana Ivanovic (SER x5) bt Jelena Jankovic (SER x4) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; Martina Hingis (SUI x2) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-0, 6-1; Elena Dementieva (RUS x3) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA) 6-1, 6-2.—AFP