AMELIA ISLAND (Florida), April 13: Top-seed Maria Sharapova reached the Amelia Island championships final after Lindsay Davenport withdrew due to illness on Saturday.

Sharapova’s opponent will be unseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, who reached her first WTA Tour final when she beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-2 2-6 6-4.

“I am so very disappointed to not be able to take to the court today,” said the 16th-seeded American announcing she was pulling out of the semi-final against the Russian.

“Obviously, we all wish Lindsay a speedy recovery,” said the Russian world number five. “It’s always unfortunate especially in the semi-final of a tournament. I was definitely looking forward to the match-up today, but it happens.”

Former world number one Davenport, who returned to the Tour last year following a break to have a baby, felt unwell after beating eighth-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-4 7-6 on Friday.

Cibulkova had only advanced to one previous semi-final, that coming last year at the tier III event in Guangzhou where she fell to Virginie Razzano.

“I feel great, just great,” Cibulkova said after her victory in two hours and 15 minutes. “I’ve beaten some great players here in this tournament and now I’m in my first finals.”

Cibulkova will now face the top-seeded Sharapova for the first time in her career on Sunday.

“I hope it will be a good match,” Cibulkova told reporters.

“I will try to enjoy it and play my best and play really relaxed. I’m in the finals so I have nothing to do lose.”

Sharapova moves into the final of a clay court tournament for the first time in her career and she could use a day of rest having played back-to-back three-set matches that took a total of six hours and 11 minutes to complete.

“I’ve obviously been playing a few more hours than I wanted to in the last few days,” said the world number five. “You have to be careful what you wish for. I came into this tournament wanting some practice. I’m spending quite a few hours out there.

“I think this is the first time that I’ve actually got a walkover like this. It was a little strange.”

Results:

Semi-finals (x denotes seed):

Maria Sharapova (RUS x1) bt Lindsay Davenport (USA) walkover; Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.—Agencies