Stanford, July 30: A red-hot Maria Sharapova destroyed fifth seed Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to move into the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic.
Sharapova, who came back from shoulder surgery in May after nearly 10 months off the tour, overwhelmed her fellow Russian with precise serving, huge returns and razor sharp groundstrokes in a stunning return to form.
After shaking off the rust with a three-set defeat of Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama in the first round on Monday, the three-time grand slam champion was never threatened by Petrova, who stretched her to three sets at the French Open second round in May.
“Against an opponent like her I have to play really well,” Sharapova told reporters.
“She’s really explosive and it’s important to take care of service games and get looks at second serves. I put pressure on her and did a lot of things well today.”
Sharapova will play the winner of the match between second seed Venus Williams and Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1, 7-5 in other second round action on Wednesday.
–Agencies