TENNIS – Maria Sharapova won a blockbuster quarter final against Vika Azarenka with 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 32 minutes. Sharapova will face rising star Daria Gavrilova who beat US Christina McHale 6-2 6-4. Gavrilova upset Sharapova in Miami earlier this year.Diego Sampaolo
In the most interesting match of the Friday quarter finals programme Carla Suarez Navarro beat last week’s Madrid champion Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-2 to advance to the quarter finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The Spanish player has become the first player to reach the milestone 30th match win.
Kvitova dropped her serve in the first game of the opening set after a series of errors. Suarez Navarro held her serve to clinch the first set. She reeled off four consecutive games at the start of the second set. Kvitova clawed her way into the match back to 4-2 but Suarez Navarro closed out the match with a stop volley and a backhand down the line
Suarez Navarro set up a semifinal against Simona Halep who swept aside Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru dropping just one game for 6-1 6-0.
“I played really solid today and sometimes aggressive which is very important against Petra because she is such an aggressive player herself. I have been able to play more aggressively this year”, said Suarez Navarro.
