Maria Sharapova closed in on the world number one spot when she reached the Rome Masters semi-finals with a 6-2 6-2 win over Elena Bovina on Friday.



The 18-year-old Russian, top seed in the Italian capital, will replace Lindsay Davenport at the top of the rankings if she triumphs this week.



Maria was rarely stretched by the ninth seed. She simply outgunned her compatriot, moving her around the court with low, flat groundstrokes and firing back serve return winners to break ...

Top seed Maria Sharapova progressed smoothly into the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters with a 7-6 6-4 win over Mary Pierce on Thursday.



Pierce presented a tough prospect for Sharapova, whose game has rarely sparkled on clay.



The Russian had never gone beyond the last eight in her previous six tournaments on the surface and was facing a claycourt expert who won the Rome title in 1997 and the 2000 French Open.




Sharapova started aggressively, firing groundstro...

Maria will be playing Mary Pierce of France on thursday for a place in the quater finals.
Maria has played Pierce once before in a third round match (2004 US Open) and lost after a tough match 6-4 2-6 3-6.


The match will not start before 13.00CET.

Good luck Maria!

Top seed Maria Sharapova began her bid to claim the world number one spot with a 6-4 6-2 win over Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Rome Masters on Tuesday.



The Russian will replace Lindsay Davenport at the top of the rankings if she triumphs this week.



It is a tall order for the Wimbledon champion, who has often struggled to reproduce her best form on clay and only reached two quarter-finals in her previous six tournaments on the surface.



Having received a bye into...

The draw for 2005 Telecom Italia Masters in Rome has been released and again Maria is the top seed. Maria has a bye in the first round and will play her first match in this tournament against either Alina Jidkova of Russia or Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.



Maria has never played Medina Garrgues before and played only once against compatriot Jidkova in 2003(Quebec City) and won in 2 easy sets. 6-1 6-2


This is Maria's final event on clay before the 2nd Grand Slam of the year...