Sports Digest/TENNIS: Maria Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 last night to progress to the Nasdaq-100 Open final in Florida.
The 17-year-old Russian will play either Amelie Mauresmo or Kim Clijsters in Saturday's final.
Sharapova edged out the tightest of first sets when errors began to creep into Williams's game as she served at 4-5 down.
"I was serving a little bit better in the first set and then she made a few errors in that game," said Sharapova. "From that point on I gained a lot of confidence."
In the second set, Sharapova broke Williams to go 2-0 up and she remained ahead until she served for match at 5-3.
Only then did the Russian begin to show any signs of self-doubt. In a long and dramatic ninth game, Sharapova was forced to save her first breakpoints of the match.
Eventually, after an hour and 20 minutes, Sharapova watched Williams's final shot sail long on her third match-point.
BOXING: British Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan's switch to the ranks of professional boxing is on the back burner until after a revenge bout against the Cuban who beat him to gold in Athens.
The lightweight said yesterday he would fight Cuban great Mario Kindelan on April 30th in a deal struck between professional promoter Frank Warren and Amateur Boxing Association chiefs who are bringing the Cubans to Britain.
The showdown will take place at Bolton's Reebok Stadium.
SNOOKER: Local hero Ding Junhui and Paul Hunter both battled through to the quarter-finals of the China Open at the Haidian Stadium, Beijing yesterday.
Ding, who turns 18 today, stepped into an uncharted region of a world ranking tournament with a dramatic 5-4 victory over Stuart Bingham while a relieved Hunter beat Jimmy White 5-3 after leading 4-0 at the mid-session interval.
Hunter's eighth frame 140 break took him over the winning line and a meeting with Ireland's Ken Doherty, the 5-3 conqueror of Stephen Lee.
Earlier in the day Steve Davis was taken to hospital for an X-ray after banging his head on a steel door. Davis had been signing autographs shortly before his match against Ricky Walden when he hit his head and was later forced to concede.
GOLF: Seve Ballesteros revealed yesterday that he is ready to make his long awaited comeback in the Spanish Open at San Roque on April 14th- 17th.
Ballesteros had hoped to play in next week's Masters at Augusta following a lengthy period of treatment and physiotherapy for a serious back problem.
Ironically, however, he was forced to pull out because of a knee injury sustained during his exercise programme.
Now he feels ready to return to competitive action after 17 months on the sidelines.
