Maria Sharapova surges into first final since drugs ban at Tianjin Open
The 30-year-old is hot favourite to take out the tournament after her straight sets semi-final win over Peng Shuai
Five-time grand slam winner Maria Sharapova crushed China’s Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1 at the Tianjin Open on Saturday to reach her first final since serving a 15-month doping ban.
The 30-year-old Russian, playing on a wild card in the seventh tournament of her comeback, hit top gear as she swept aside the Chinese third seed in one hour and 18 minutes.
In front of a large home crowd, a businesslike Sharapova broke four times and conceded zero breaks of her own before wrapping up the semi-final with a clinical cross-court forehand.
In Sunday’s final – her first since she won the Italian Open in May 2015 – she will be the red-hot favourite against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who beat qualifier Sara Errani 6-1, 6-3 and is ranked 102nd.
Sharapova has had a stop-start and injury-hit season since her controversial return at Stuttgart in April, following her ban for using the banned substance meldonium.
The statuesque former world number one reached the Stuttgart semis but she retired in the Italian Open second round and also withdrew from her second-round match at Stanford.