World number one Victoria Azarenka pulled out of
the Pan Pacific Open citing chronic fatigue while Maria Sharapova was
stunned by Samantha Stosur as the event lost its top two seeds on
Thursday.
French Open champion Sharapova, Tokyo winner in 2005
and 2009, was upset by Australian Stosur 6-4 7-6 in a quarter-final
filled with drama and high-quality tennis.
Azarenka withdrew before her quarter-final with
German Angelique Kerber, having come into the WTA premier five event
complaining of health issues.
The Belarusian, who won this year’s Australian Open
and reached the final of the U.S. Open earlier this month, struggled to
complete her third round match the previous day.
“Before the tournament I wasn’t feeling very good,”
said Azarenka, who had her blood pressure checked during Wednesday’s win
over Roberta Vinci.
“I had low energy. I wasn’t myself. It wasn’t
possible today. Maybe it was tiredness from the whole season. I need to
have some tests. It’s a little bit unknown what it is.”
Stosur next faces Russian Nadia Petrova, who ousted
sixth seed Sara Errani 3-6 7-5 6-3 after battling back from a set and
4-1 down against her Italian opponent.
Eighth seed Stosur had won just one of her previous
11 meetings with Sharapova but seized the initiative by taking the first
set when the Russian blasted a backhand long.
The Australian was taken to a tiebreak in the second
after leading 5-3 but won a nail-biter 12-10 on her fifth match point
after a wild forehand from Sharapova.
“When you don’t take a few (chances) in a row you
don’t know what’s going to happen,” said 2011 U.S. Open champion Stosur.
“I just kept trying to go for it and thankfully it paid off.”
