EON

Carlsbad, California – Unbeaten the last two weeks, Anna Chakvetadze finally met her match.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova cooled off her red-hot but weary Russian compatriot 6-3, 6-2 Saturday to book a spot in the final at the 1.83-million-dollar Acura Classic.

Looking for her first title since winning in autumn 2006 at Linz, Austria, world number 2 Sharapova played with purpose and poise in sweeping past her fourth consecutive opponent this week by using five service breaks to take the 69-minute victory in sunny, breezy conditions on the hard courts at La Costa Spa and Resort.

In the title match Sunday, Sharapova will face the winner of the other semifinal contest between Russian ninth-seed Elena Dementieva and Swiss lefthander Patty Schnyder, the number 11 seed.

Chakvetadze had won 12 consecutive singles matches in the last three weeks, including titles at Cincinnati, Ohio and Stanford, California to move into a career-high number 6 WTA ranking. On Friday night, the 20-year-old saved a match point before stunning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in an emotional, three-set triumph.

However, with little time to recover, Chakvetadze failed to repeat the effort against Sharapova and fell to 0-5 all-time against the reigning US Open champion.