Justine Henin beat Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal. The Belgian will become the first woman to win three consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Monica Seles in 1990-92 if she defeats Ivanovic on Saturday.

In their only previous meeting two years ago, Henin beat Ivanovic in straight sets on clay in Warsaw, Poland.

Ivanovic, seeded seventh, neutralised Sharapova's power and kept her on the run. Sharapova was looking to advance to her third consecutive final in a major after winning last year's U.S. Open.

"I was thinking the game would be much closer," Ivanovic said. "She is an aggressive player and likes to dominate. I knew she was not a great mover on the clay."

Sharapova's defeat was reminiscent of her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final in January. Playing in her first French Open semifinal, Sharapova struggled to chase down Ivanovic's pinpoint strokes.

Her performance was riddled with unforced errors and five double-faults, and she lasted little more than an hour on centre-court.

Sharapova trailed 5-0 in the second set, before holding for 5-1. Ivanovic closed the win with her fifth ace. Sharapova had 25 unforced errors to 11 for Ivanovic and hit only four baseline winners.

Ivanovic started quickly, holding her opening serve and then broke Sharapova immediately with a strong forehand flick down the line. Sharapova double-faulted to go 5-1 down, broke back for 5-2, but lost the first set in 32 minutes when she double-faulted for the fourth time.

Ivanovic broke Sharapova in the second game of the second set. In the next game, Ivanovic was briefly in trouble at 0-30 down before rallying to win the next four points to move 3-0 up. That was as close as Ivanovic got to being under pressure.

"I think I played a pretty good match," Ivanovic said. "I knew I had to be aggressive from the beginning, I didn't make many unforced errors. My serve worked well."

Henin improved to 6-0 against Jankovic head-to-head, including a win in the semifinals of last year's U.S. Open. But it was the first time the Serb had lost in straight sets to Henin, who also won in Paris in 2003.

Jankovic rallied midway through the second set, and Henin had to save a break point before moving ahead 5-2. Jankovic double-faulted to go 15-40 down on her serve and give Henin two match points.

She won at the first attempt when Jankovic's forehand sailed long. Henin clenched her fist and blew a kiss to the crowd.