BIRMINGHAM, England (AP)—Maria Sharapova beat American qualifier Alison Riske 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to advance to the final of the grass-court Aegon Classic against familiar foe Li Na on Saturday.
Top-seeded Li beat fourth-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the other semifinal to return to the final for a second straight year.
Sharapova won this Wimbledon warmup in 2004 and 2005 and was runner-up in 2007, the last time she was in a grass-court final.
Li and Sharapova will meet for the third time at Birmingham. Li won their semifinal last year, her only win over the Russian in six meetings, but lost in the final.
Sharapova, chasing her third title of the year and 23rd of her career, was looking forward to playing Li.
“It will be good to play her again. A year makes a big difference,” the second-seeded Russian said. “I certainly don’t like losing to the same person twice in a row—I’m a big competitor. I’m certainly going to try to turn that around.”
Li, who entered the tournament as a late wild card after French Open champion Francesca Schiavone withdrew, knew Sharapova was serving better and playing more confidently this year but wasn’t fazed.
“I am happy to be in the final,” Li said. “It will be a good match.”
Sharapova jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Riske, who responded by requesting a coaching break—taken with her elder sister Sarah—after which the 19-year-old appeared to settle down.
In the second set, Riske kept pace with Sharapova for four games and then managed to break the Russian’s serve with some well-timed returns and the help of a double-fault. The American held her nerve to close out the set despite going 15-30 down at 5-4.
In the third set, Sharapova regained the upper hand, breaking Riske twice and finishing off the match with an emphatic ace to secure the third set 6-1.
“I suppose I knew in my mind that I would be back (in the final), but I also knew there were players who had had shoulder injuries who never came back,” said Sharapova, who was off the WTA Tour for 10 months following shoulder surgery in 2008.
Li struck the ball well against Rezai in the first set and looked set to make the final in a rush. But she lost momentum by dropping serve early in the second set, and after that it became a dogfight.
In the end, Li had a little more accuracy and knowledge of how to deal with the conditions.
“She’s a tough player, she was hitting very hard,” Li said. “I started aggressively and then went a little bit backward, lost a bit of concentration at 2-0 in the second set.
“Then in the third set, I realized I had to play like I had at the start to win.”
The final will be Li’s seventh of her career. Her second and last title was in 2008.