STANFORD (California): Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva breezed into the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic on Wednesday, crushing their second-round opponents with equal efficiency.
A red-hot Sharapova destroyed fifth seed and compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2, before world No 4 Dementieva despatched another Russian in Maria Kirilenko with the same scoreline.
Sharapova, who came back from shoulder surgery in May after nearly 10 months off the tour, overwhelmed Petrova with precise serving, huge returns and razor-sharp groundstrokes in a stunning return to form.
After shaking off the rust with a three-set defeat of Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama in the first round on Monday, Sharapova was rarely troubled by Petrova, who stretched her to three sets at the French Open second round in May.
Sharapova will play the winner of the match between Venus Williams and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
Dementieva had few problems with 52nd-ranked Kirilenko, who appeared tired after her marathon three and half hour win over Anna Chakvetadze on Tuesday.
The Wimbledon semi-finalist was solid and quick off the baseline, consistently running down blasts from Kirilenko and firing them back as winners.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1, 7-5 in other second round action on Wednesday.
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