INDIAN WELLS, California, 19 March 2005 — Wimbledon champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova charged into the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open on Thursday.
Federer chalked up his 24th win in 25 matches this year by thrashing Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 6-1, while women’s third seed Sharapova blasted France’s Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-3.
Sharapova set up a semifinal showdown with world number one Lindsay Davenport, a 7-6, 6-0 winner over Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy. “It’s like he’s Mr Perfect and nothing’s going wrong for him at this point,” Sharapova said referring to Federer. “He’s so talented and just plays so loose. It seems like he’s playing without any effort, plays always by instinct.”
Federer will play Argentina’s Guillermo Canas, who ended the run of last year’s finalist Tim Henman with a 7-6, 7-5 victory.
Sharapova won the battle of the big hitters by knocking out twice grand slam champion Pierce.
The 30-year-old Pierce, who had beaten Sharapova at last year’s US Open, tried to match her opponent blow for blow. But the teenager pulled through by hitting more accurate shots.
“I think I learn a lot from losses and they make me a lot tougher,” Sharapova said.
Sharapova leads Davenport 2-0 in their head-to-heads and if she wins the contest, she will inch closer to the coveted number one ranking.
Davenport reached the final here last year before losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne and said her level of play had gone up since then.
After attacking throughout the match, world number six Henman paid the price for failing to hit his approach shots deep enough or controlling his groundstrokes.
The British number one fought off two match points at 5-4 with a service winner and gorgeous backhand volley but with his back against the wall at 6-5 and facing another match point, he rushed a forehand approach shot long.
The 27-year-old Canas has now beaten Henman on five successive occasions.
