INDIAN WELLS, California, (Reuters) – Former champion Maria Sharapova raised her game when it mattered to storm into the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals with a 7-5 6-0 victory over Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino yesterday.
Fifth seed Petra Kvitova also stormed into the quarter-finals, crushing compatriot Klara Zakopalova 6-2 6-3, while Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka faced Poland’s Urszula Radwanska later yesterday.
After winning a tight opening set, Russian world number three Sharapova swept through the second in only 22 minutes to reach the last eight at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for a third consecutive year.
Second seed Sharapova will next meet Italy’s Sara Errani, a 6-3 6-2 winner against Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli earlier in the day, in a re-match of last year’s French Open final clinched by the Russian.
“I stepped up my game in the second set,” Sharapova, who was champion here in 2006 and a losing finalist last year, said courtside after wrapping up victory in one hour 18 minutes.
“The first set was so up and down I had to buckle down, stepping into the returns and getting in a few more first serves. It was a slow start. Just didn’t get a good rhythm on her game from the beginning.
