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Sharapova blows past Hingis at Indian Wells

"I told myself, no matter how many balls it takes I'm going to make one more ball than her."

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova advanced to the final of the Pacific Life Open by defeating Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-3 in a match of former No. 1s on Friday.

Sharapova will face either top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne or Elena Dementieva of Russia in Saturday's final.

The 18-year-old Russian was better at holding serve than Hingis in a sloppy match, their third in seven weeks. Hingis beat Sharapova in Tokyo, and Sharapova won in Dubai last month.

Sharapova served for the first set at 5-2 but lost the game, then broke Hingis a third time to clinch the set.

Third-seeded Sharapova led 4-1 in the second, but Hingis, a wild card, brought it back on serve in the seventh game, only to drop the eighth to love. Sharapova served out, winning on an unreturnable serve.

"She tried to mix it up a little bit at the end of the first set, and I knew physically it was going to be harder," Sharapova said.

"I told myself, no matter how many balls it takes I'm going to make one more ball than her. Mentally, that's how I won."

Sharapova also reached the final of her last tournament in Dubai, where she lost to Henin-Hardenne.

In a men's quarterfinal, James Blake of the US defeated Igor Andreev of Russia 6-1, 6-4 and ensured he will rise into the world top 10 rankings for the first time when they are updated on Monday.

Since August, 14th-ranked Blake has compiled a 39-10 match record with four titles -- two this year in Sydney and Las Vegas -- and one runner-up finish. Three wins in that time have been against Andreev, who knocked out Andy Roddick in the fourth round.
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