Samantha Stosur’s claycourt hot streak comes under threat when Australia’s Fed Cup hero faces career nemesis Maria Sharapova for a place in the Stuttgart semi-finals.
Stosur avenged her semi-final defeat last year to Julia Goerges with an impressive 6-2 2-6 6-3 victory over the defending champion.
The US Open champion’s seventh win from eight claycourt encounters this month, including four straight at Stuttgart’s indoor arena, set up a quarter-final showdown between the past two French Open runner-ups.
Stosur trails Sharapova 9-1 head-to-head but will be buoyed not only by her sizzling form but also her breakthrough success over the triple grand slam winner in their most recent outing at the WTA Championships last October.
Australia’s world No.5 had to dig deep to defeat Goerges for the first time in three meetings in a win to back up Stosur’s dual Fed Cup triumphs on the same court over the weekend against fellow Germans Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic.
“I started well and thankfully I then got through the third. Clay still works very well for me,” Stosur said.
Should Stosur down the second-ranked Sharapova, she would run into either Czech third seed Petra Kvitova or Kerber, who ousted Danish sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-1 6-2.
Wimbledon champion Kvitova had few problems in her 6-2 6-2 win over Italy’s 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone.
Reigning French Open titleholder Li Na, the eighth seed, advanced 6-4 6-4 over Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan to book a quarter-final with Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
World No.1 Victoria Azarenka took no pleasure in reaching the last eight when German Andrea Petkovic exited with another serious injury.
Azarenka took the first set 6-2 but, with the scores tied at 4-4 in the second, Petkovic shouted in pain after twisting her right ankle and was in great distress as she was helped off the court.
“What a terrible thing to have happened, I feel so very sorry for her,” said Azarenka, who helped Petkovic off court.
“She is a great player and I hope she will recover soon.”
Petkovic only made her return to tennis in Germany’s Fed Cup loss to Australia last weekend after three months out with a back injury. She also tore her ACL knee ligament in 2008.
“My ankle swelled up as soon as I twisted as it. We are checking the ligaments for damage. I am icing it tonight and then tomorrow I will get a couple of scans,” said Petkovic.
“I was looking for my rhythm at the beginning of the match and just as I was beginning to find it I suffered the injury. It is definitely unlucky, but I will be back again.”
Azarenka will play Germany’s 35th-ranked wildcard Mona Barthel, who claimed her second scalp of the tournament when she knocked out French seventh seed Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-1.
