Moscow, April 1 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia's Maria Sharapova broke into the final of the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament with $4.5 million up for grabs in prize money after defeating Germany's Andrea Petkovic.

Sharapova (16-seed), playing for the first time in Miami since 2007, began her semifinal encounter Thursday with a first set defeat, but rebounded quickly in the following two breathtaking sets to clinch a confident victory over Petkovic (21-seed) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.

"I'm almost lucky to be here. I had a tough one the other night and another three-setter today," WTA Website quoted Sharapova as saying, who had a grinding quarterfinal victory on Tuesday over Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5).

Petkovic was also firm on her way for the title in Miami and earlier knocked out the World's No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark from the tournament.

"Andrea has been playing the best tennis of her career and beat some good players here, so I was really happy I was able to change things around after losing the first set," Sharapova added.

Sharapova's contender for the title in Miami will be the winner between other semifinalists, who are 3-seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia and 8-seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.