The 25-year-old Russian defeated Li, Asia&rsquo;s only Grand Slam winner, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the final for the first time in five attempts, but it took the French Open champion a while to break into her stride. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2012/oct/Sharapova.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 810px; " /> Sharapova waves to the crowd after beating Na Li in the China Open semis Li sped to an early 3-1 lead due to some poor serving by Sharapova, including three consecutive double faults in one game, but the Russian fought back, winning three games in a row before taking the set with a break. &ldquo;It was a really high-quality first set with a few ups and downs andu00a0obviously she (Li) had the lead,&rdquo; Sharapova said. In those first few games I thought my percentage of first serve was low. Against someone like Li Na who likes to step in and take the ball early, I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to have to hit too many second serves. My goal after that was just to get my first-serve percentage much higher than it was in the first three or four games. I came back and then I broke her in that last game of the first set. It was important to take that momentum going into the second.&rdquo; And continue her momentum she did, taking six games without reply to steamroll Li in little over half an hour. &ldquo;She had a better performance than I did and she had better control of the match, but I think I played pretty well today,&rdquo; Li said. Sharapova will play World No 1 Victoria Azarenka in the final after the Belarusian beat ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-2.

World No 2 Maria Sharapova overcame home favourite Li Na in straight sets on Saturday to make the final of the China Open.

Sharapova crushes local favourite Li Na in semis

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Sharapova crushes local favourite Li Na in semis

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