Maria Sharapova vs Victoria Azarenka takes place on Thursday in the French Open 2013 Women's Singles Semi-Finals. Both players have played some amazing tennis to get through to this round but have also gone through some tougher patches, but neither have faced a challenge as big as each other. Today's game is second on court and follows the Mixed Doubles match that is on first. The match can be watched online through free live stream via the link provided below.

Sharapova is the second seed in this year's tournament but is also the French Open defending champion. But she almost didn't make it through to this semi-final after struggling as much as anyone can remember in the first set of her quarter-final against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic. The first set was atrocious for Sharapova, and she ended up hitting 20 unforced errors in total in a shocking display.

It was only the 6th time in her 626 professional matches that Sharapova has dropped a first set at love.

However, she rallied and the second set was a complete turnaround as she fought tooth and nail to stay in the tournament. Sharapova ended up winning the match 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Sharapova said after the match, "I wanted to put that chapter behind me. No matter how many errors I made or how disappointed I was with the way I started the match, I knew that I still could try to create chances out there; obviously taking them is another question. But I knew that I was capable of doing much better."

Meanwhile, Jankovic simply said, "I needed a bit more gas in my tank to finish this match off."

Meanwhile, No. 3 seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus will be looking to do what Jankovic failed to do and knock out the reigning champion. Azarenka will be a formidable challenge for Sharapova, and she is already a two time Australian Open champion.

Azarenka managed to get through to this semi-final by defeating her friend and former doubles partner, No. 12 seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

This will be Azarenka's fourth visit to the semi-finals of a major tournament in a row.

Maria Sharapova vs Victoria Azarenka can be watched online through free live stream by clicking here.