The former top-ranked Russian struggled with her serve in the second set, but regained her stride in the decider to break her 19-year-old opponent twice for a 5-1 lead.
Sharapova has remodeled her serve to protect her shoulder, which required surgery last year and sidelined the Russian for nearly nine months, and she committed 11 double faults in the match.
"I kind of lost the momentum and made more errors than I would have preferred, and she gained confidence from that," Sharapova said. "When you give her time she plays very aggressively, and once she had broken me she kept swinging away and came up with some great shots."
Sharapova next plays Li Na, the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist from China who beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 7-6(3).
The other semifinal will pit Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia against Sania Mirza of India.
Mirza reached only her second semifinal in two years with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over Hungary's Melinda Czink, while Rybarikova beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-3.
Mirza recently recovered from a career-threatening wrist injury, and was encouraged by her performances in Birmingham.
"I struggled last week and I am just happy to be back. I'm happy to be competing and winning some matches," Mirza said. "The wrist is healed which is the biggest positive out of this."
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