Sharapova's grit proves too much for Bouchard
Russian has fifth grand slam in sight after reaching her third straight Roland Garros final where she will meet Simona Halep
Maria Sharapova reached the final of the French Open for the third straight year at Roland Garros on Thursday, digging deep to see off the youthful challenge of Canada's Eugenie Bouchard.
The 27-year-old seventh seed once again did it the hard way, battling back from a set down to edge the 20-year-old from Montreal 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a match full of beefy baseline shot-making.
It was the 19th time in a row that the never-say-die Sharapova had won a three-set match on clay, dating back to a loss against Justine Henin at Roland Garros in 2010.
I would prefer to win in two sets, but she started so well. It was tough losing the first set, but that's not when the match is over
On Saturday, she will take on the winner of the other semi-final - fourth seed Simona Halep of Romania who beat Germany's Andrea Petkovic, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
The Romanian blazed through the opening set as her 28th-seeded opponent struggled with early nerves.
She fell a break down in the second, but recovered to force a tiebreak which she always controlled.
Halep, who has yet to drop a set, ended the contest on her first match point with yet another forehand winner.
For the fast-rising Bouchard, it was the second time she had reached a grand slam semi-final, following January's Australian Open. And again she failed to go a step further, having lost to the eventual champion Li Na in Melbourne.