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The Sports Network TSN
Madrid, Spain (Sports Network) - Wimbledon and U.S. Open runner-up Vera
Zvonareva and former world No. 1 star Maria Sharapova were a pair of seeded
Russian third-round upset victims Wednesday at the $4.5 million Madrid
Open.
Talented 16th-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova drove out the second-seeded Zvonareva
in 6-1, 6-4 fashion in 1 hour, 16 minutes, while the Day-5 nightcap saw
scrappy Slovak Dominika Cibulkova take out an eighth-seeded Sharapova 7-5, 6-4
in 1 hour, 46 minutes on the red clay at the Magic Box. Cibulkova piled up
seven service breaks as the three-time major champion Sharapova struggled with
her serve in the setback.
Kvitova will tangle with Cibulkova in Friday's quarterfinals.
Sixth-seeded Chinese Li Na, the 2011 Australian Open runner-up, reached the
third round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Czech Iveta Benesova, while Czech
Lucie Safarova upended seventh-seeded former world No. 1 Serbian star Jelena
Jankovic 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes in the round of 32. Li will face
hot Italian Roberta Vinci in the third round on Thursday.
In some other second-round action, in-form German Julia Goerges grounded
former world No. 1 Dinara Safina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and Vinci vaulted past Russian
Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-2. Vinci is fresh off her title in Barcelona last
week. The wild card Safina, of Russia, was the Madrid champ two years ago.
Russian players went 0-4 on Wednesday.
The rising Goerges will face top-ranked Danish star Caroline Wozniacki in a
third-round affair here on Thursday. Goerges stunned Wozniacki in a final in
Stuttgart just two weeks ago.
The 2011 Madrid winner will pocket $920,000.
The Sports Network