LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - After a fascinating day's play at the East West Bank Classic presented by Herbalife, the tournament's top four seeds all successfully negotiated potentially tricky third-round encounters. Top seed Maria Sharapova was made to fight all the way before she finally overcame Michaella Krajicek to take her place in the quarterfinals of the $600,000, Tier II event and she will be joined there by Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Victoria Azarenka and Virginie Razzano.
Sharapova has been in fine form on the American hardcourts so far this summer, storming to her first title of the year in San Diego last week, but she was given a real scare by Krajicek. The 20-year-old Russian struggled to adapt to the conditions on the wind swept stadium court at the Home Depot Centre and was forced to draw on all her battling qualities to edge out the Dutch teenager in three tight sets. In an error strewn match there were breaks of serve aplenty, but after 168 minutes it was the world No.2, Sharapova, who emerged victorious securing her quarterfinal berth with a 76(4) 67(3) 64 win.
"I think today was one of those days when you are just happy to get a win," Sharapova said, "I was a little slow today and I was a step late to everything so it's good to come through. It's nice to know I can deal with different situations and be able to come through them and as it can get windy in New York it was good to be in the scenario where I needed to deal with the wind on court."
Sharapova's opponent in the last eight will be her compatriot and conqueror in last year's Los Angeles semifinal, Elena Dementieva. The No.9 seed is defending champion and profited from the retirement of her third-round opponent Daniela Hantuchova, after the Slovakian was unable to continue because of an upper respiratory illness. The 25-year-old Russian was leading 63 41 at the time of the retirement and after breezing through her previous two matches, she is sure to be feeling fresh when she faces the top seed.
"The first set today was so close today," Dementieva said, "but I didn't know she was feeling so bad when she called for the trainer and I just made sure I stayed focused. I thought I served very well today and I'm pleased with my performance. I was out on court less than an hour and because of the heat that was good for me."
The Russian contingent in Los Angeles have certainly been enjoying themselves this week and Dementieva's fellow Musocvites, Petrova and Kirilenko, were two of Thursday's other third-round winners. No.4 seed Petrova breezed past No.15, Srebotnik 61 62 in little more than an hour, while Kirilenko defeated Gisela Dulko, 63 64.
Neither Petrova nor Kirilenko has dropped a set this week and their victories see them advance to the quarterfinals in California for the second week in succession – both players made the final eight at the Tier I event in San Diego.
Two more players to enter the winner's enclosure on Day 4 were high-flying Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic. Teenage superstar Ivanovic was a quarterfinalist in Los Angeles 12 months ago and after crushing the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova 62 62, few would bet against the No.3 seed bettering the performance this time around.
No.2 seed Jankovic's 62 61 victory over No.13 Sybille Bammer was the 22-year-old's 57th win of 2007 and sees her progress into her 15th quarterfinal since the turn of the year. Meeting her there will be talented 18-year-old Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, who needed less than an hour to see off Kateryna Bondarenko, 61 62.
Unseeded Frenchwoman Razzano completes the quarterfinal line-up and she delivered arguably the performance of the round to see off the in-form Sania Mirza 61 76(6) and reach her first Tier II quarterfinal for more than two years. The 23-year-old is currently ranked No.52 in the world and when she steps on court to face Petrova on Friday, she will be eager to avenge a straight-set defeat suffered in the opening round of the 2005 Australian Open.
Thursday also saw the first two pairs take their place in the semifinals of the doubles competition with Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova joining top seeds Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo in the final four. After scraping through their opening encounter on a match tie-break, Molik and Santangelo delivered a more assured display to overcome the American duo of Jill Craybas and Laura Granville, 61 75. Their next opponents, Poutchek and Rodionova, advanced courtesy of a walkover after Hantuchova was unable to take to the court with partner Martina Hingis, due to the upper respiratory illness which forced her out of the singles. (WTA)
