Strasbourg: Maria Sharapova rallied past Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to face the unseeded German Kristina Barrois in the Strasbourg International final.
The top-seeded Russian will chase her 22nd title while Barrois will play her first final on the WTA Tour after outlasting Vania King of the United States 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Sharapova needed to win two matches in the same day because two quarterfinals were interrupted by rain on Thursday.
Early on Friday, Sharapova beat Julia Goerges of Germany 7-6 (2), 6-1 and Medina Garrigues defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-2, 7-5. Sharapova was leading 3-2 on Thursday while the fifth-seeded Spaniard took the first set before rain started.
Sharapova managed to hold serve only once in the opening set of her match against three-time champion Medina Garrigues. But she started the second set by winning five straight games and won the match by breaking the Spaniard twice in the final set.
Sharapova is looking to get back to her best before the start of the French Open after recovering from a right elbow injury.
Meanwhile, the 77th-ranked Barrois converted her second match point in a tight encounter in which she won just one more point than King (86 to 85).
Barrois failed to serve out the match at 6-5, letting King break back to force a tiebreaker.
King took a 3-0 lead in the opening set but Barrois broke twice in the second set to level.
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