Sharapova reaches Qatar open semis, Jankovic loses

Doha (ANTARA News/Reuters) - Russia`s Maria Sharapova swept aside Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 6-0 6-1 on Friday to reach the Qatar Open semi-finals and set up a revenge clash with Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska.

But third-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic joined the long list of upset victims at the tournament when she lost 6-3 6-4 to unseeded Li Na of China.

Fourth-seeded Sharapova surrendered only eight points in the first set and took command in the second when her opponent netted a backhand volley to give her a 2-1 lead.

The Australian Open champion was only even remotely under pressure when she had to fight off four break points before holding for 5-1.

"Apart from that one game in the second set I felt pretty comfortable out there," Sharapova told reporters after her one-hour victory. "From the beginning of the match I was aggressive, I served and returned well and felt pretty good."

Now she has a potentially difficult meeting with 16th seeded Radwanska, who beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-7 6-4 after the Slovak upset sixth seed Venus Williams in the previous round.

Radwanska produced one of the biggest upsets at last year`s U.S. Open when she beat Sharapova in the third round.

"I never like losing to an opponent twice in a row so I`m quite excited about the challenge," said the Russian. "I was hoping she would win today so I could get an opportunity to go out and play against her again.

"But she`s also very young and this is a new opportunity for her to be in the final of a big tournament, so I have to go out there and try to be aggressive as I was today and hopefully come out with a win this time."

Jankovic found little rhythm or consistency against an aggressive Li Na, who since returning in January from a six-month injury break has won the Gold Coast event in Australia and reached the semi-finals in Antwerp.

Sybille Bammer claimed her first career win over a top 10 opponent on Thursday when she beat second-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova but the 15th seed failed to build on her success, losing 2-6 6-2 6-0 to Russia`s Vera Zvonareva.(*) END

• Blake leads US change at delray beach
  
• Indonesia beats Hong Kong on 2nd day Davis qualification
  
• Indonesia seeded fifth in Fed Cup`s Group I