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Sharapova moves to WTA final round

Sharapova has moved into the WTA final for the first time over 2.5 years

© EPA-EFE/ROMAN PILIPEY

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Maria Sharapova won from 3rd-seed Peng Shuai of China, who is the tournament’s reigning champion, in a semifinal round of the 2017 Tianjin Open on Saturday.

Sharapova scored 6:3 and 6:1 in two sets.

Sharapova has moved into the WTA final for the first time over 2.5 years. Her last play was in the final round in Rome in May, 2015, where she overplayed Spain’s Carla Su·rez Navarro.

In the upcoming final round, Sharapova will play against Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus. The final game is due on Sunday morning.

On Friday, president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS - Maria Sharapova is unlikely to be a heavily-favored player of the 2017 VTB Kremlin Cup tennis tournament, to be held this month in Moscow. The organizers of the tennis tournament in the Russian capital confirmed to TASS earlier in the day that Sharapova would be granted a wildcard in order to enter the competition as soon as she returns from another tournament, which is currently underway in China.

Sharapova is Russia’s most decorated tennis player having won a total of five Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open in 2008, the French Open in 2012 and 2014, Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006.

She also clinched the silver in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was the 2008 Federations Cup champion.

After a 15-month long suspension for violating anti-doping regulations, Sharapova made her comeback to tennis in April at Stuttgart, where she stormed into the semifinals round of the tournament.

At the 2017 China Open, which closed last Sunday in Beijing, Sharapova failed to clear the third round stage and advance further to the quarterfinals.

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