Maria won her final round robin match at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul as she defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-0 6-3 in 65 minutes to finish on top of the white group and advance to the semis.

This is Maria's fifth appearance at this stage of the tournament. The last time Maria was in the semis was in 2007.

The first set took only 20 minutes as Maria didn't drop a game and only dropped five points throughout the set. The second set was closer as Maria got the first break of serve to lead 4-3. Maria backed the break up in the next game as she holds her serve to 15 and when wins the match when Stosur hits a overhead out.

In Saturday's semis, Maria will play world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Maria has played Azarenka eleven times before and Azarenka leads the series 7-4. Here are the matches they have played against each other:
Moscow 2007 R2: Azarenka won 7-6 6-2
Los Angeles 2009 R2: Maria won 6-7 6-4 6-2
Beijing 2009 R2: Maria won 6-3 6-7 7-5
Stanford 2010 Final: Azarenka won 6-4 6-1
Miami 2011 Final: Azarenka won 6-1 6-4
Rome 2011 Quarter-Final: Maria won 4-6 3-0 ret. 
Australian Open 2012 Final: Azarenka won 6-3 6-0
Indian Wells 2012 Final: Azarenka won 6-2 6-3
Stuttgart 2012 Final: Maria won 6-1 6-4
US Open 2012 Semi-Final: Azarenka won 3-6 6-2 6-4
Beijing 2012 Final: Azarenka won 6-3 6-1