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Sharapova ousted by Stosur at Pan Pacific Open

Dunya News

Sharapova won this tournament in 2005 and 2009 struggled with her serve and had 5 double faults.

Sam Stosur beat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 7-6 (10) Thursday at the Pan Pacific Open, knocking the two-time champion out to reach the semifinals.Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka withdrew after a bout of dizziness in her third-round match on Wednesday, advancing Angelique Kerber of Germany to the semis.Nadia Petrova of Russia, down 6-3, 4-1, overcame sixth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, and will play Stosur on Friday.Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki faced third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the late quarterfinal.Stosur broke Sharapova to go up 5-3 in the second set but then lost nine straight points as Sharapova sent the match to a tiebreaker, which Stosur won on her fifth match point when Sharapova returned long.I knew that I had lost nine points and was just trying to stop the momentum swing, Stosur said. I wasnt thinking about the points I lost but was focusing on how I was going to make the next points. It was only Sharapovas second loss in 11 matches against the Australian, who is in her first semifinals since the French Open.She played a very steady game and I had a few more unforced errors than I would have liked, she said. Its disappointing to lose but you have to take every disappointment and turn it into a positive. Its really about thinking what I can do to improve for the next tournament.Azarenka said she hasnt been feeling well for several days.Before the tournament on Sunday I was starting to feel not really good, Azarenka said. I havent really been doing better since then. Just low energy, you could tell by the matches I wasnt my usual self. But it took too much energy over the last two matches to really push and today its just not really possible for me.