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Williams, Sharapova through to semifinals in Madrid

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Top seed Serena Williams had none of the problems she suffered on Wednesday as she breezed into the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open with a comfortable straight set win over Spain's Carla Suarez on Thursday.

Wednesday saw Williams defend three match points in a tense match in which every set was decided on a tiebreak, but needed just one hour and 13 minutes to defeat the No. 10 seed 6-1, 6-3 and maintain her unbeaten record in 2015.

Reigning Champion Maria Sharapova also qualified for the last four, although the Russian was made to work a lot harder before she finally saw of the challenge of Caroline Wozniachi 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Both players had similar percentage points on court, but Sharapova showed greater aggression coupled with accuracy and that was enough to swing the game her way.

In the men's competition, big-hitting No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych saw off No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with relative ease, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals, while Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov produced a minor surprise beating 2013 Madrid finalist Stanislaus Wawrinka 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in just under two hours. Endi