Wednesday's Results for Ladies in Madrid: Zvonareva Falls, Kvitova in QFs
Sixteenth seed Petra Kvitova waltzed into the Madrid Open quarterfinals after defeating World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4 to tie their head-to-head series 2-2. Kvitova save seven of eight break points and broke Zvonareva four of six times. Kvitova had success over Zvonareva on clay last year in Rome.
In the third round matches, World No. 32 Lucie Safarova upset seventh seed Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 for her first win over the Serbian. Safarova hit eight aces and won 63 percent of her service points. Up-and-comer Julia Goerges defeated 2009 champion Dinara Safina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Safina continues to struggle with her new serve and had fifteen double faults in this match. She will move on to Rome where she also owns a title.
In Indian Wells, Safina said, "Well, honestly, I changed the motion because of the hip. Because after my back, it went into my hip. I was so painful, my hip, so I could not serve...and then after the US Open I was practicing one week with my brother, and he told me, Try this serve. And since then, maybe the motion is not perfect, but at least I have no pain. So I have to now to get more used to it, playing the matches."
World No. 6 Na Li stayed solid and took out Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-4 with five aces and 100 percent of break points saved. Since being in the Australian Open finals, Na finally broke her first round losing streak in Madrid to play Roberta Vinci, who beat Alisa Kleybandova 6-2, 6-2, next.
The last singles match of the evening was a close match between Dominika Cibulkova and Maria Sharapova. World No. 9 Sharapova was upset by World No. 28 Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4. Sharapova had five double faults. They now share a tied head-to-head at 2-2. Cibulkova had the confidence of defeating Sharapova on clay from the 2011 French Open quarterfinals and now will be in the Madrid quarterfinals to play Kvitova.
In Doubles, Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy made it to the quarterfinals after defeated French Open winner and finalist Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2. World No. 1 doubles team Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta were upset by Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 to get into the semifinals. Other winners includes partners Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina and partners Su-Wei Hsieh and Zi Yan.
