Maria Sharapova used the rain delay from Tuesday to her advantage, rallying to win on Wednesday after losing the first set to Marion Bartoli of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"I think that rain break gave me a few hours to think about things," Sharapova said in an on-court interview afterward, according to the Associated Press. "I came out so flat yesterday; she came out on fire. She's so tough."
The 11th-seed Bartoli was leading 4-0 in the first set when rain caused the match to be delayed until Wednesday afternoon. She won the set 6-3 when play resumed, which was the first she had ever won against Sharapova in four previous matches.
Sharapova had trouble in the first set with shorter points and was struggling with quick rallies.
At 5-2 in the first set, Bartoli went up 40-30 to get a set point on a backhand return off of Sharapova's fastest serve of the match. Sharapova fought off set point and took it to 5-3 on a forehand winner, but that was all she would get in the opening set.
In the next game Bartoli took a quick lead 40-15 before smashing an overpowering serve that Sharapova returned to the net.
In the second set Bartoli took an early lead by breaking Sharapova's serve, but the Russian star broke her right back to take it to 1-1. Sharapova had three double faults in that first game while Bartoli had two in the second game.
Throughout the match Sharapova had trouble on Bartoli's second serve. Bartoli had triple break point against Sharapova in the third game, but she battled back from 0-40 down to hold her serve. Sharapova went up 2-1 for her first lead of the match.
Even though Sharapova had five double faults in the second set, she held her serve strong and took a lead 4-3. At that point in the match she outnumbered Bartoli in winners 15 to 2.
Sharapova broke Bartoli to go up 5-3 to serve for the set. She aced the last point to take the second set 6-3.
In the decisive third set Sharapova took an early lead 2-1 by breaking Bartoli on a cross court forehand winner. Bartoli broke back in the next game to tie it at 2-2. She held her next serve to go up 3-2 and had break point on Sharapova 15-30 before she shot an error long. Sharapova pulled the game to deuce and then aced Bartoli to hold the game.
At 4-4 with Bartoli serving, Sharapova quickly got out to a 40-15 lead, but gave up both break points to go to deuce. Sharapova then took the advantage and shot a cross court backhand that Bartoli returned long.
Serving for the match Sharapova had one double fault but kept Bartoli at bay, smashing an ace to go up 40-30. On match point Sharapova blasted a powerful serve to Bartoli that she hit back long.
Sharapova had 44 winners in the match to Bartoli's 18 and also had the advantage in net points, aces and first serve percentage.
This year Sharapova has made it to the semi-finals at every Grand Slam this year except for Wimbeldon, where she fell in the fourth round. She won the French Open and made it to the finals of the Australian Open where she lost to Victoria Azarenka.
Sharapova improved her record to 12-0 in three set matches on the season and will face Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals.
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