BEIJING, Sept 23: World number one Maria Sharapova swept into the semifinals of the China Open with a crushing 6-4 6-1 victory over Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe on Friday. The Russian teenager came to the rescue of tournament organisers after Wimbledon champion Venus Williams pulled out with a knee injury before her quarter-final in Beijing.

Had Sharapova lost, it would have left the $585,000 tournament shorn of its top four seeds before the semi-finals.

Second seed Lindsay Davenport withdrew with a back problem after winning in Bali at the weekend, while title holder Serena Williams suffered a shock defeat in her opening match.

Local interest also ended abruptly when Sun Tiantian and Peng Shuai bowed out earlier on Friday.

But Sharapova stayed on course for a fourth title of the year after victories in Tokyo, Doha and Birmingham with an easy win over the 39th-ranked Asagoe.

The 18-year-old clinched the first set on an Asagoe double-fault and quickly took a 5-0 lead in the second before closing out the match after 66 minutes.

Sharapova, who has won four of her 10 career titles in Asia, will face fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Kirilenko beat China’s Olympic doubles champion Sun, conqueror of Serena Williams, 6-1 6-3.

Chinese number one Peng fell to ninth seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 7-5 6-1.

Quarterfinal results: Maria Sharapova bt Shinobu Asagoe 6-4 6-1; Maria Kirilenko bt Tiantian Sun 6-1 6-3 ; Marta Domachowska bt Venus Williams WO; Anna-Lena Groenefeld bt Shuai Peng 7-5 6-1.

Kolkata Open results

Elena Likhovtseva bt Sofia Arvidsson 6-1 7-5; Anastasia Myskina bt Shikha Uberoi 6-4 6-2; Karolina Sprem bt Melinda Czink 6-3 6-1; Kaia Kanepi bt Sybille Bammer 7-5 6-3,—Agencies