Environmental awareness wasn't on the agenda when Maria Sharapova met Venus Williams in the Rome quarterfinals. This was clay-court tennis played at a hard-court pace. Striking her menacing backhand with accuracy, depth, and domineering ambition, Sharapova powered past Williams, 6-4, 6-3, to reach her fifth semifinal of the season.
The second-ranked Russian scored her eighth straight win on Rome's red clay, raising her record to 16-2 in the Eternal City. This blockbuster battle between the current and former Rome champions met expectations for much of the opening set, as two of tennis' most explosive players collaborated on some crackling rallies. When two titanic hitters find the range, a match can come down to the first strike, but as this match progressed Sharapova not only struck decisively on pivotal points, she answered some of Williams' authoritative returns.
Opportunity slipped through Sharapova’s grip in the fifth game, though, as she failed to convert two break points. Williams saved the second one with a biting second serve into the body and forehand winner, eventually holding with an ace. The depth of shots and sounds of shrieks amped up in the ninth game as Sharapova belted a backhand winner cross-court for another break point. A series of punishing Sharapova drives dancing near the baseline finally handcuffed Williams, whose forehand sailed long, giving the second seed the first break.
Serving for the set at 5-4, Sharapova survived turbulence when Williams steered a forehand volley winner cross-court for double break point. But the wild card couldn’t summon the right spin on her forehand, slapping a mid-court forehand into the top of the tape, then overcompensating in lifting a down-the-line forehand long. Williams' tactical mistake in this match was over-playing Sharapova's backhand, and she paid the price when the Stuttgart champ blasted a backhand on the line for a second set point. Sharapova launched a missile down the middle to take the set when Williams’ lunging forehand return slid off the top of the tape. Sharapova won the 48-minute opener by the slightest of margins (37 to 36 total points), but played the crucial points with imposing presence.
Sharapova, who saved six set points in the first set of her win over Ana Ivanovic on Thursday, broke at 30 to open the second set, but Williams played determined defense to draw an error and break back for 2-all. Ravaging Venus' serve with a blistering return, Sharapova earned break point and broke for 3-2 on a Williams double fault. The 1999 Rome champion committed five double faults, compared to six for Sharapova, but dumped two more doubles in the final game, including a double on match point as Sharapova sealed an impressive one hour, 41-minute win.
Her habit of tapping her clenched left fist against her thigh while crouched in her return stance gives Sharapova a predatory posture, and she slammed some of Williams' second serves, winning 19 of 31 points played on the seven-time Grand Slam champion's second offering, breaking four times overall. Next up for Sharapova is a semifinal against either Petra Kvitova or Angelique Kerber.
—Richard Pagliaro