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Sharapova reaches quarterfinals at DFS
Defending champion Maria Sharapova struggled with the serve-and-volley game of Samantha Stosur but beat the Australian 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the DFS Classic.
The match was stopped for five minutes during the second set when a waitress fell 12 feet from a VIP area next to the court. She was unconscious and taken to a hospital. Sharapova next faces Eleni Daniilidou, who defeated eighth-seeded Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3. Daniilidou ousted 10th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova on Wednesday. Also, third-seeded Jelena Jankovic defeated Milagros Sequera 6-1, 6-4, and fifth-seeded Tatiana Golovin advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Rika Fujiwara. Sharapova, preparing for her Wimbledon title defense, had a tougher time than expected against Stosur in the grass-court tuneup. "She put me under pressure and made me have to make the return all the time," Sharapova said. "I enjoy these challenges. That's what it's all about." The top-seeded Russian caught a break in the fourth game of the deciding set when her service return caught the net and dropped over. She broke Stosur and coasted to victory. "I might not be playing my best tennis and my opponent might be playing great, and it might come down to the wire," Sharapova said. "But you have to pull it out and that's what I did," Stosur said she was pleased with her tactics against Sharapova. "Everyone knows what a great hitter of the ball Maria is from the baseline," Stosur said. "But on these courts you have to rush her and not let her get set for a shot, and I did that. But you have to do it for three sets and keep everything going 100 percent."
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