Olympic semifinal preview: Maria Sharapova vs. Maria Kirilenko
Having already previewed the Olympic semifinal between Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams, we are moving on to predicting the all-Russian one, between Maria Sharapova vs. Maria Kirilenko. Thank you, Omair, for contributing the article!


Maria Sharapova ended Kim Clijsters' Olympic dream 6-2 7-5 to set up an all-Russian semifinal against Maria Kirilenko. Earlier in the day, Kirilenko upset Petra Kvitova 7-6(3) 6-3, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, to make it to the medal match.

The pair has never played on grass before. Their most recent meeting came in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells this year, where Sharapova won in three sets. Will Kirilenko have a revenge? Let's have a look at the performance of the players so far at the 2012 Olympics.





Kim Clijsters will likely end her career with a perfect 6-0 record against fellow Grand Slam champion and former No.1 Ana Ivanovic. In their today's encounter at the London Olympics, Clijsters won 84% of points on first serve (69% of her first serves got in) and defeated the 11th-seeded Ivanovic 6-3 6-4 in just 58 minutes, despite hitting 10 winners less than the Serb. The third-round victory came pretty smoothly to Clijsters and only in the beginning of the second set she faced bigger challenges, when double faults at 0-1 eased Ivanovic's way to break points. However, Clijsters saved them, held her serve and finished the match without losing service games.
Carlos Rodriguez, who we are identifying with the now retired seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin, will start to coach Li Na on a trial basis as of August 16 and according to the current plans their cooperation will last until the end of the season. Rodriguez will travel full-time with the 30-year-old Chinese.


