AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Top seed Maria Sharapova needed more
than three hours to beat Anabel Medina Garrigues on Thursday and reach the
quarterfinals of the Amelia Island Championships.
Sharapova took three hours and 27 minutes to overcome Medina
Garrigues 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 as both players slugged it out from the baseline.
Australian Open champion Sharapova joins fellow grand slam
winner Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals after the 11th-seeded Frenchwoman
survived a first-set wobble to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 7-5, 7-6.
"There were a lot of ups and downs in the match. I think I
should have won the match in two sets to be honest," Sharapova said. "But I
stopped hitting the ball and I kind of let her back in the match."
Sharapova, who had held a 5-3 lead in the final set but was
rattled by a controversial line call in the ninth game, was struggling at 5-6
before she dominated her service game to force a tiebreak.
The tall Russian had no problems in the tiebreak, running
through it 7-1.
"When you’re down 5-6 after being 5-3 up, you’re just trying
to think of the right things and just focusing on what you have to do in order
to win point by point," Sharapova said.
"I played a really good game to get it even, and I just
thought ‘You have to do the same thing in the tiebreaker.’
"In those situations, after three hours or so, it all comes
down to the heart and how tough you are. The forehands or backhands don’t mean
much after that."
Sharapova will meet 10th seed Alona Bondarenko, who also
advanced with a three-set victory over sixth seed Dinara Safina 7-6, 0-6, 7-5.
Mauresmo successfully landed 86 percent of her first serves
in the opening set but her Polish opponent was able to record the only service
break.
The 28-year-old Frenchwoman recovered in the second set and
won the third-set tiebreak against seventh seed Radwanska 8-6.
Mauresmo will face Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, who upset
second seed Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Cibulkova, who practiced with Mauresmo last week in Miami,
overcame early jitters and dominated the third set when she allowed her Russian
opponent just 17 points.
"It probably wasn’t my best tennis but she’s a tough player.
I just tried to stay focus and play hard," said Cibulkova.
"This wasn’t the first top-10 player I’ve beaten but beating
her means a lot to me."
Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, seeded 16th, also reached the last
eight with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Croatian Karolina Sprem.
