Sharapova battles past Radwanska in Istanbul

Number one seed Maria Sharapova was made to work hard before securing her semi-final place at the $200,000 Istanbul Cup tennis event with a 6-2 3-6 6-0 defeat of Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday.

The Russian will play Aravane Rezai in the last four after the unseeded Frenchwoman put out American Meghann Shaughnessy 1-6 6-1 6-4. Maria has played Rezai once before at Roland Garros on clay 2 years ago and she won 6-3 6-2.