Defending champion Maria Sharapova beat Tatiana Golovin 7-5, 6-1 to reach the final of the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England.
Sharapova, recovering from a thigh strain and a cold that hampered her in previous rounds, will play Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro on Sunday. Jankovic beat Laura Granville of the United States 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Sharapova, who was broken early on, rallied to lead 5-3 against Golovin but then missed the chance to close out the set. Golovin then double-faulted at 40-30 in the 12th game, giving Sharapova the chance to take the set.
– Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the semifinals to move within one victory of capturing his third straight Gerry Weber Open title in Halle, Germany.
His opponent in the final will be Marat Safin, one of only three men to beat Federer this year. The second-seeded Russian beat fourth-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
By beating the seventh-seeded German, Federer extended his winning streak on grass to 28 matches, the second longest in the open era after Bjorn Borg’s 41 in a row from 1976-81.
Defending champion Andy Roddick advanced to his third straight final at the Queen’s grass-court tournament, overcoming a sloppy second set to beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in London.
Roddick will play Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in Sunday’s final. Karlovic had 19 aces in a 6-4, 7-6 (7) win over 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.
