STUTTGART — Defending champion Maria Sharapova moved to within one victory of her third straight Stuttgart title after a 6-1, 6-2 win over Italy's Sara Errani in Saturday's semifinal. The statuesque Russian, who has never won a tournament three times running, will face Ana Ivanovic who beat Jelena Jankovic in an all-Serbian semifinal 6-3, 7-5. Sharapova, who won the title in 2012 and 2013, needed just under an hour to see off clay-court specialist Errani in what was a repeat of the 2012 French Open final which the Russian also won. Sharapova, 27, raced into a 3-0 lead winning eight of the first 10 points and took the first set in just 27 minutes with some powerful ground strokes. The Russian picked up where she left off in Friday's 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal win over world-number three Agnieszka Radwanska and converted six of her eight break points against Errani. The 26-year-old Italian was never allowed to find her rhythm as Sharapova dominated the second set. Giraldo-Nishikori final Colombian Santiago Giraldo beat Rafael Nadal's conqueror Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3 at the Barcelona Open Saturday to reach just his second ever ATP final. Japan's Kei Nishikori will be Giraldo's opponent in the final as he continued his fine form this season with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Nishikori, playing for the first time on clay under new coach and former French Open champion Michael Chang, was dominant on serve throughout and never faced a break point on his way to sealing victory. “I was very happy to see lots of Japanese people congratulating me after the match,” said the world number 17. Dimitrov to play Rosol Top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the final of the Nastase Tiriac Trophy Saturday when Gael Monfils had to retire with an ankle injury in the first set. Monfils twisted his right ankle when walking onto the court before the match and had to quit when trailing 5-1 after just 16 minutes of play. Dimitrov will play defending champion Lukas Rosol in Sunday's final, after the Czech player rallied to beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. — Agencies
