Maria Sharapova has booked her place in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open by beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-4 on Saturday afternoon.
Despite heading into the match as the slight underdog, Sharapova made the perfect start by breaking the third seed's serve in two of the opening three games.
Errors on Radwanska's serve continued even after breaking back against the Russian, who managed to find two more breaks on her way to a comfortable first-set success.
Sharapova took the advantage once again early in the second set, before Radwanska forced it back onto serve by levelling the scores in a marathon game.
Following a back-and-forth period in the middle of the set, it came down to the 10th game in the Spanish capital as Sharapova found one more break of serve to knock out her rival.
The eighth seed will play Simona Halep in the final.
Callum Mulvihill
