Sharapova advances to French Open final

Maria Sharapova booked her place in the French Open final for the third year in a row when she beat up-and-coming Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 4-6 7-5 6-2 on Thursday.

Struggling with her serve, Sharapova, who is 18-1 on the red dirt this season, dropped the first set before playing deeper to level the contest, outrunning the 18th-seeded Bouchard in the third.

Sharapova, 27, has now won the last 19 three-set matches she has played on clay since losing to Justine Henin in the third round at Roland Garros in 2010.

"She played an unbelievable match, her level was extremely high ... I'm just very lucky to be the winner," Sharapova told reporters Thursday.

Bouchard, 20, who was inspired to play after watching Sharapova at an early age, took first blood, breaking serve and playing her opponent at her own game by pushing her into the corners.

Despite Sharapova's service games being peppered with double faults, she squeezed out the second set on her fifth set point to send her third straight match in Paris into a decider.

In the third, she upped the aggression another notch, leaving Bouchard at times staring after the ball with a slight shrug.