STUTTGART (Germany): Defending champion Maria Sharapova defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to set up a Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinal with top seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
The sixth-seeded Sharapova needed a little over an hour and a half to defeat her fellow Russian, keeping alive her dream of winning the tournament for the third year in a row.
Polish world No. 3 Radwanska was rarely troubled in wrapping up her 6-3, 6-2 win over Italy’s Roberta Vinci.
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic rallied after losing the first set to beat Flavia Pennetta of Italy 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 for a quarterfinal place against Alisa Kleybanova, who upset the third-seeded Petra Kvitova on Wednesday.
Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic also lost her first set against German wild card Julia Goerges, but recovered to prevail 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The last remaining German in the tournament, the fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber, was to play Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain late on Thursday.
Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was scheduled to take on second seed Simona Halep of Romania, also late, with the winner facing Ivanovic in the quarterfinals.
Nadal cruises into Barcelona quarterfinals
Meanwhile, top-ranked Rafael Nadal looked more like his confident self on the clay in passing Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-3, to reach the Barcelona Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
Nadal was struggling with his game coming into the event and an unconvincing opening victory on Wednesday did little to calm the nerves.
But Nadal looked more assured as he ousted the 37th-ranked Dodig in 83 minutes.
Nadal moves on to face fellow Spanish player Nicolas Almagro in an early rematch of last season’s final, which Nadal won for his eight title at the tournament in the Catalan capital.
Earlier, Almagro beat Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3.
At another ATP tournament in Bucharest, Romania, defending champion Lukas Rosol reached the Nastase Tiriac Trophy quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over eighth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Wednesday.
The Czech saved seven of the eight break points he faced on the clay at BNR Arenas.
Home favorite Victor Hanescu failed to advance, though, as fourth-seeded Gilles Simon of France rallied from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In other matches, top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-2, while Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakovsky downed Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a match lasting 2 hours, 21 minutes.
Home-town honour reduces Murray to tears
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray fought to hold back tears on Wednesday after being awarded the ceremonial freedom of his Scottish home town, Sterling.
“It feels good to be home,” said Murray, his voice cracking with emotion, during a ceremony at his former school, Dunblane High.
The 26-year-old was seen to pause and wipe his eyes several times during his speech, as a crowd including local officials, his parents, and girlfriend Kim Sears looked on.
“I’m going to keep this very short because there’s a good chance I’ll get emotional,” he said.
“I’d like to thank the (local) council for voting me in. I was expecting a few no’s. I was thinking, ‘There’s got to be one of you who doesn’t like me.’
“I’d like to thank all my family and friends and girlfriend for coming to support me.”
After another break to compose himself, he added: “I think everyone knows I’m extremely proud of where I come from.
“To get this honour means a lot to me so thanks to everyone for coming along, and I apologise for this behaviour,” he added with a smile.
Murray left Scotland and moved to Spain as a teenager, and now resides in London.
At a later press conference in the school hall, renamed Murray Hall, he explained why he had felt so emotional.
“I don’t get the chance to come back that often and I don’t get the chance to see my family as much as I would like, and I’m very proud of where I come from,” he said. (Agencies)