By Lauren Lynch
Photo Credit: Mark Howard, Tony Chang/ Chang Photography

(March 31, 2011)  She beat the World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. She defeated the former World No. 1 and 2008 Miami finalist Jelena Jankovic. Now she faces two-time Miami finalist Maria Sharapova for a blockbuster Sony Ericsson Open semifinal in which Mark Howard calls, "The Dancer versus The Fighter." Nobody puts Andrea Petkovic in a corner because she will dance her way out of it.

23-year-old Petkovic took out 23-year-old Sharapova this year in the Australian Open's R16 in two sets, however, their head-to-head series is even at 1-1. Sharapova defeated Petkovic back in 2010 in Cincinnati's R32. Sharapova has the benefit of being on the pro tour for 10 years compared to Petkovic only being on tour for 5. As a well seasoned player, Sharapova showed a lot of heart playing and winning with a bad ankle sprain against Alexandra Dulgheru in the Miami quarterfinals.

When being asked about Andrea's recent wins, Maria said, "I haven't seen any of them, but knowing how she played against me, she's very steady, you know, really good athlete, moves really well around the court. But, yeah, she's in really good form and playing, you know, some of the best tennis of her career."

Personally, I believe that Petkovic will win in three sets and it will be a close match. I think she has a fresh take on tennis and the confidence (like her good friend, Novak Djokovic, has) of taking out two top ten-ners in this tournament.  To beat Wozniacki, Petkovic admitted to the media that she came out with an intelligent and set plan to win. *Take note, Ladies!*

She confessed, "Most of the players think they can overpower Caroline. I think that's the wrong approach, because that's where she's most comfortable, when she can run and bring the most balls back. Then once you lose your concentration for once on your shot, she goes for it. It's not like she's and, you know, some like to say that she's pushing, but it's not like the balls are slow and not short, you know. They are quite deep, so you cannot really attack them. What I try to do is mix it up and to make her play, and then when I had the short ball to go for it. Because if you try to hit every single shot with full power, full power, full power, she just gets more comfortable, more comfortable, and eventually you're gonna miss. She's not gonna miss the last one. So this is what I tried to do, just be patient and wait for the short ball, and until then try to mix it up and also give her the initiative to try to play."

Petkovic played to win in the main stadium against Jankovic while her recent doubles partner Ana Ivanovic fought hard but eventually lost to Kim Clijsters right next door in Miami's stadium 2. As wildcards, Ivanovic and Petkovic made it to the third round of the doubles draw to lose to Shahar Peer and Shuai Peng.

A reporter said the he did not know much about Andrea and Ana answered, "Yeah, you gonna get to know her. She's great girl, and she's playing really well. I think she can challenge anyone out there. Yeah, it's so nice, you know, to find someone like that to play doubles with, because it makes it more fun. She's very, very smart girl and very well educated. Yeah, like I said, you're gonna see plenty of her. She's also fun to be around."

Speaking of fun to be around, Petkovic is known for her ultra-ego "Petkorazzi", a comical news reporter on youtube videos, and for doing the little jig after her wins called "The Petko Dance."

She explained the beginnings of her dance routine saying, "It was a bet with my coach at the US Open. I was playing really bad beforehand and I got Nadia Petrova in first round, so was obviously tough round for me first round US Open. He said, If you win you have to do something special.That was the first thing that came to my mind. Actually, I wanted to get rid of it after the US Open, but the fans just they said like, Hey, we are just coming to see the dance and you're not doing it anymore. So I brought it back in, but this is definitely the last tournament where it's gonna happen, and then I'm moving on to something else."

When can we expect the next Petkorazzi report? Andrea said, "Oh, I'm working on, but the problem is always when I play well I have less time to do it. So to be able to do a good Petkorazzi video I should lose earlier. But I think I'll keep focused on my tennis and Petkorazzi is my second priority. Maybe after the tournament maybe I will have a few days to try to film some behind the scenes stuff."