Maria scored a straight set victory over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic to reach the semis at the Toray Pan Pacfic Open in Tokyo. Maria won 6-4 7-5 in 1 hour and 39 minutes to reach her 4th semi-final of 2009.
After the win Maria said: "I feel like I'm starting to get the feeling back of being able to figure things out automatically. Like knowing when you have to be patient and when you have to be aggressive. The goal is to be aggressive. I can make a few more errors but it's all about execution and knowing when not to make a mistake."
Maria will play either Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland or Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia in the semis to be played on Friday.
In the rankings Maria will move back up into the top 20 provisionally at #20 with 2230 points.
Maria will now receive a bye in the first round of the China Open in Beijing after this win as all the semi-finalists of Tokyo do.