Sharapova reaches Tokyo semis

Former world number one Maria Sharapova advanced to the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open by outfoxing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-4 7-5 on Thursday.

Earlier, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic eased past France's Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-3 to reach the last four of the $2 million Tokyo tournament.

Sharapova, 25th in the world following shoulder surgery a year ago, recovered from a slow start to keep event organisers happy after a glut of early exits by top-seeded players.

"I feel like it's almost automatic again," the three-times grand slam winner told reporters. "Figuring things out and being patient. It didn't come easy to me at first.

"The goal is to be aggressive no matter what the situation is. It's about execution and not making errors when you have to step up and win big points."

The Russian, still looking for her first title since her return from injury, rattled off four straight games to take the opening set.

Sharapova's big-match experience told again at the business end of the second when she broke her opponent's serve at 6-5 with a ferocious backhand to close out the quarterfinal.

The 2005 Tokyo champion will face the winner of Thursday's late match between 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova in the semifinals.

Jankovic, who finished 2008 as the top-ranked women's player, never looked in danger of following the top six seeds out of the event.

"It makes a big difference when my mind is on tennis," the Serb said after beating Bartoli for the first time in their last five meetings. "I play at another level.

"So many things happened this year. My mum got sick and had surgery. Before my US Open second round (defeat last month) my grandmother died and tennis became secondary. Other things were more important in life."

Jankovic completed victory over Bartoli by forcing the 14th seed to dump a backhand into the net to end a point which neatly encapsulated their match.

World number one Dinara Safina, second seed Venus Williams and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova all lost their opening matches this week after first-round byes.