30 March,2013 04:00 AM IST | | AFP
Russia's Sharapova, a four-time runner-up in Miami, was equally dominant as the newly-crowned Indian Wells winner hammered Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-1 in the other semi-final on Thursday.
Maria Sharapova
"I am excited because I am in the final," Williams said.u00a0"It definitely felt really good today. I kept my unforced errors rather low. I definitely didn't start out the best. A lot of things in my head were going crazy. Slow and steady hopefully wins the race," she added.
Serena Williams. Pics/AFP.
The 31-year-old Williams blasted 12 aces and won 83 per cent of her first serves in the 65-minute match against the fourth seeded Radwanska.u00a0Williams is bidding to become just the fourth woman in the modern era to win the same event six times, joining Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Evert is the only player over 30 to win the title, doing so at the age of 31 years and two months.
Sharapova is in her fifth final in quest of her first Miami title. "It would mean so much to me. The fans give me so much support here. I love this city. It was the first city I came to in this country when I was a little girl and I would love to win," Sharapova said.
Sharapova is trying to become just the third woman to win both major March events, Indian Wells and Miami, in the same year.
Murray in semis
Reigning US Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of the Miami Open by ousting Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, shaking off two early exchanges of. The second seed will face eighth seed Richard Gasquet who beat fourth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3.
