BIRMINGHAM, England (AFP) — Maria Sharapova joined India's Sania Mirza in the semi-finals of the WTA grasscourt tournament here on Friday.
Sharapova, the former Wimbledon champion, defeated Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to reach the last four for the sixth time.
The Russian, who won here in 2004 and 2005 and finished runner-up in 2007, is just beginning to find her form after 10 months struggling with a shoulder problem.
Sharapova faces China's Li Na next and will be making her first appearance in a semi-final since May 2008 when she was beaten by Jelena Jankovic in Rome.
"I started off really well and the tennis was at a pretty high level," said Sharapova.
"But I started slowing down in the second set and let her get back in the match. She looked pretty comfortable on the grass."
Sharapova defeated Li in the fourth round at the French Open, but admitted Saturday's match will be a different challenge.
"We've always had pretty difficult encounters and I just played her last week at the French Open and it was three tough sets, but that was on clay, and this is a new tournament and a different surface," said the Russian.
"But she is always a tough one to play and we have always had very tough battles."
Mirza, unseeded at the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event, defeated 16th seed Melinda Czink 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) and will play Slovakian 13th seed Magdalena Rybarikova, who beat Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-3.
"I struggled a little on the clay season, so it?s great to be finally on the grass as I always play well on it," said Mirza.
"I was just trying to play my game as much as possible today and be aggressive. It?s been a great week so far and a great tune-up for Wimbledon. Hopefully I?ll have a good match on Saturday."
The 22-year-old Mirza, who shocked fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Thursday, is back in the latter stages of a tournament for the first time since reaching the final of the Pattaya event in Thailand in February.
Fourth seed Li also moved into the last four with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele.
Less than 24 hours after her top seeded compatriot Zheng Jie crashed out, Li kept alive Chinese interest in the pre-Wimbledon warm-up with another impressive display.
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