Maria Sharapova had to come from a set down to beat Li Na in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open, beating the second seed 2-6 7-6 6-3 this afternoon.
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Li faced a break point early on, but saved it before breaking the Russian and quickly wrapping the set up 6-2.
The Australian Open champion appeared to be closing in on a straight-sets win when she broke Sharapova during the second set, but the eighth seed hit back straight away to level the scores, forcing a tie-break.
The Russian raced to a 6-2 advantage, giving her four set points before her opponent fought back to 6-5, but Sharapova was able to wrap it up on her own serve to send the match to a deciding set.
Sharapova continued her momentum at the start of the third set, breaking the Chinese player in the opening game.
Li hit back straight away but could not stop the Russian from regaining her advantage in the third game, and was not tested on her serve again.
Sharapova will face either Caroline Garcia or Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
Sian Cowper
