MOSCOW, Oct 14: World number one Maria Sharapova crashed out of the US$2.3-million Kremlin Cup joint ATP and WTA tournament on Friday suffering a quarterfinal defeat to fellow Russian Dinara Safina. Safina, ranked 24, battled back from a set down to win 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2hr 21min to record her first win over her top seeded opponent in their third meeting.

Sharapova, 18, looked in command from the start breaking her 19-year-old opponent twice before Safina chalked up her first point with a break. But former Wimbledon champion Sharapova restored her four-game lead with another break minutes before she took the opening set in 31 minutes.

In the second Safina managed to tighten the grip under the watchful gaze of her elder brother Marat, the reigning Australian Open champion, and kept her serve until the seventh game, when Sharapova broke again.

But Safina replied immediately, winning three consecutive games to level at one set all after one hour 15 minutes on court.

In the third Safina was leading 5-1 after a couple of breaks but Sharapova performed a dramatic comeback and levelled at five games all after she survived a matchball in the seventh game.

Safina picked up steam and took two consecutive games to win the set, the match and to earn a place in the semis.

Safina next plays France’s Mary Pierce, who eariler saved six match points to beat Elena Likhovtseva, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), having trailed 6-0 in the third-set tie-break.

Francesca Schiavone upset Svetlana Kuznetsova and will meet Elena Dementieva who won her all-Russian battle with Anastasia Myskina 6-2,6-3.

In the men’s event, German sixth seed Nicolas Kiefer beat Belarus Max Mirnyi, the fourth seed, 6-3, 6-4 while Russian Igor Kunitsyn advanced past Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-3, 6-2 in their quarterfinal matches.

Results

Men (quarterfinals):

Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) bt Andrei Pavel (ROM) 6-3, 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer (GER) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR) 6-3, 6-4

Women:

Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Anastasia Myskina (RUS) 6-2, 6-3; Dinara Safina (RUS) bt Maria Sharapova (RUS) 1-6, 6-4, 7-5; Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 6-3, 6-1; Mary Pierce (FRA) bt Elena Likhovtseva (RUS) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6)

Top seeds into semis

BANGKOK: Russian top seed Nadia Petrova will face Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti for a place in the final of the PTT Thailand Open, as veteran Conchita Martinez of Spain was knocked out on Friday.

Petrova’s power game stopped qualifier Stephanie Foretz from France in two straight sets in the 200,000-dollar tournament, 6-4, 6-0.

The Russian will now play world number 74 Serra Zanetti, who bundled out eighth seed Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Czech Nicole Vaidisova’s powerful serves and winning shots were enough to break Martinez’s five service games in the 58-minute match 6-3, 6-0 and book a place in the semi-finals against third seed Argentine Gisela Dulko.

Results:

Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Stephanie Foretz (France) 6-4 6-0; Gisela Dulko (Argentina) bt Meng Yuan (China) 4-6 6-3 6-2; Antonella Serra Zanetti (Italy) bt Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3 3-6 6-2 Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) bt Conchita Martinez (Spain) 6-3 6-0.—Agencies