Maria Sharapova ousts Agnieszka Radwanska to meet Simona Halep in Madrid Open final

Johannesburg: Russian ace Maria Sharapova has secured her place in the final of the Madrid Open for the second consecutive year and will face Romanian Simona Halep following their respective semi-final victories on Saturday.

The four-time Grand Slam champion has slowly begun to hit form in recent weeks on her return to clay conditions after a difficult start to the year.

According to Sport24, Sharapova stormed through the opening set against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska for the loss of just 11 points and rounded off the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win in little over an hour.

The report mentioned that Halep ground out a hard-fought 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 victory within two-and-a-half hours over fifth seed Petra Kvitova from Czech Republic.