Former World No.1 Maria Sharapova was a figure of confidence today as she played some consistent tennis to overcome fellow countrywoman Maria Kirilenko in the semifinal of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.  The Russian needed an hour and forty one minutes to complete a 6-4,6-3 win.

En route to that win Sharapova smashed 29 winners and was aided by 22 errors that came off of the Kirilenko racket.

The first set kicked off with a nervy service hold for Kirilenko as she went three break points down, to fight back and hold on to serve. That happened to be the pattern of the match as Sharapova foun holding on to serve easy, while Kirilenko was tested every time she served. The break of serve arrived in the third game itself, with former champion upping the ante. Sharapova had several other opportunities on the Kirilenko serve but she failed to convert them, making it incredibly difficult to take the set. As she served for the set, the reigning Roland Garros champion faced a couple of break point again, before she finally saw a set point which she converted. Sharapova committed a massive 6 double faults in that set.

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In contrast to the first set, Sharapova started serving fantastically well. In the entire set, the two seed dropped just the one point on her serve in the entire set, while on the return of serve Sharapova was once again impressive as the former World No.1 earned two breaks of serve, taking the set 6-3.