Sharapova ousted by Stosur at Pan Pacific Open
Sharapova ousted by Stosur at Pan Pacific Open
TOKYO — Sam Stosur knocked two-time champion Maria Sharapova out of the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday, reaching the semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (10) win over the Russian.
Stosur broke Sharapova to go up 5-3 in the second set but then lost nine straight points as the Russian sent the match to a tiebreaker, which Stosur won on her fifth match point when Sharapova returned long.
“I knew that I had lost nine points and was just trying to stop the momentum swing,” Stosur said. “I wasn’t thinking about the points I lost but was focusing on how I was going to make the next points.”
Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka withdrew after a bout of dizziness in her third-round match on Wednesday, sending Angelique Kerber of Germany to the semifinals.
“Before the tournament on Sunday I was starting to feel not really good,” Azarenka said. “I haven’t really been doing better since then. Just low energy, you could tell by the matches I wasn’t my usual self. But it took too much energy over the last two matches to really push and today it’s just not really possible for me.”
Also, Nadia Petrova of Russia, trailing 4-1 in the second set, overcame sixth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. She will next face Stosur on Friday. Defending champion and third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in the late quarterfinal and will face Kerber in the semifinals on Friday.
Monfils makes second quarters in two weeks
BANGKOK — Gael Monfils edged sixth-seeded Victor Troicki of Serbia 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the Thailand Open on Thursday.
Monfils also reached the quarterfinals last week in Metz, his first tournament since May after being sidelined by a right knee injury.
The Frenchman used five breaks of serve to trump the three he lost, beating Troicki a third straight time. Monfils will meet 2009 champion Gilles Simon, who defeated Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-4.
Fernando Verdasco of Spain edged Donald Young of the U.S. 7-5, 6-4, and Bernard Tomic of Australia reached his first quarterfinal since April, rallying past Dudi Sela of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Also, third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first matchup of big servers. Raonic had 14 aces to nine for Karlovic, and converted his only break point chance.
“I was a bit hesitant in the first set, and tried to figured out (the indoor court) in the second,” said Raonic, who will face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
Monaco advances in Malaysia; Dolgopolov out
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Juan Monaco of Argentina reached the quarterfinals in his Malaysian Open debut but fellow seeds Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Feliciano Lopez of Spain lost on Thursday.
Second-seeded Monaco defeated Taiwanese wild card Jimmy Wang 6-4, 7-5.
The Argentine responded to losing his serve three times by breaking Wang five times.
Fourth-seeded Dolgopolov lost to Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
From wire sources