Maria Sharapova

Samantha Stosur will have her chance at revenge on Saturday, after beating Yanina Wickmayer to reach the semis of Stanford, where she will face one of her toughest opponents, Victoria Azarenka. Stosur, the No.1 seed at the Premier-level tournament, fought for almost two hours to beat No.7 seed Wickmayer on Friday afternoon, 75 36 63. Stosur was serving 0-2, 15-40 in the third set before bouncing back into form, winning six of the last seven games to close out the one-hour, 52-minute match.

Victoria Azarenka overcame a slow start to upset holder Marion Bartoli 3-6 6-3 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic Friday.

Top seed Samantha Stosur of Australia, however, managed to squeak through in a 7-5 3-6 6-3 victory over Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

While the fourth seeded Bartoli was seeded higher than the eighth-seeded Azarenka, the 20-year-old Belarussian had beaten the Frenchwoman in their three previous meetings so the outcome was not a surprise.

Top-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur and fifth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova won their respective quarterfinal matches Friday at the $700,000 Bank of the West Classic tennis event.

Stosur outlasted seventh-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Stosur, who lost to Francesca Schiavone in the finale at Roland Garros, is playing her first tournament since breaking into the top five.

Maria Sharapova had very few problems at the Bank of the West Classic on Thursday, racing past Olga Govortsova, 63 63.

Sharapova, the No.5 seed, was playing Govortsova for the first time and despite double faulting in the first point of the match and subsequently losing her serve, she got her mojo back right away, needing just an hour and 19 minutes to make it past the Belarusian in straight sets and into the quarterfinals.

Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford on Thursday.

Israel's Shahar Peer, another seeded player, wasn't as fortunate.

Former world No 1 Sharapova, the fifth seed, beat Belarus' Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 6-3 and the eighth-seeded Azarenka topped American Melanie Oudin, 6-3, 6-1 in the second round, while Russia's Maria Kirilenko knocked off the sixth-seeded Peer, 6-4, 6-3.

Marion Bartoli is a rarity on the WTA Tour.

One of a half-dozen players in the top 100 to use a two-handed swing from both sides, Bartoli plays an entertaining and efficient style, a mix of power, power and more power.

It was too much for Ana Ivanovic on Thursday night, as the fourth-seeded Bartoli took down Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Bank of the West Classic quarterfinals.

A finalist in 2008, and champion last year, Bartoli's big game is well-suited for the fast courts at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Marion Bartoli won her fifth and biggest career title here a year ago and got off to a winning start at the Premier stop again, beating Ashley Harkleroad in straight sets on a sunny Monday afternoon. Bartoli, who beat Venus Williams in the final last year and is the No.4 seed this year, came out on fire against Harkleroad, taking the first set in 27 minutes; she went down a break early in the second set but won anyway, 61 64.

Maria Sharapova continued her improving form with a 6-4 7-5 win over Zheng Jie in the first round of the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford.

Zheng, who coincidentally beat Sharapova in the Russian's last appearance on a hardcourt back in March, did not have enough to match her opponent, who is looking near to her best again after injuries have hampered her progress in recent times.

Shahar Peer got the fright of her life against Daniela Hantuchova before sealing her progress.

Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova is the only Russian national on the Forbes list of 100 most influential celebrities, unveiled on Monday night.

For four decades the Bank of the West Classic has attracted top flight fields and this year is no different, with eight of the Top 20, and three former singles No.1s, lining up to help celebrate the tournament's 40th birthday. What's more, another former No.1, Lindsay Davenport, will play doubles at Stanford - the American great's first foray onto the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour since the 2008 US Open. French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur is the $700,000 event's top seed.