Sharapova wins twice in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, England, June 11 (UPI) -- Maria Sharapova recorded two wins Thursday and moved into the quarterfinals of the rain-delayed $220,000 Aegon Classic grass-court tennis tournament.

Rain through the week caused backups but tournament officials were able to finish 12 second-round and all eight third-round matches Thursday.

Sharapova was one of six players who won twice Thursday. Top-seeded Zheng Jie wasn't able to pull off the feat and was beaten in her third-round match.

Sharapova, winning her first 6-3, 6-4, needed just one game that took just 2 minutes to complete her suspended second-round match against Alexa Glatch. She then ousted seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-3 in a third-rounder.

Her quarterfinal opponent will be Yanina Wickmayer, who also won twice Thursday, including a third-round 6-1, 6-4 upset of 14th-seeded Roberta Vinci.

Zheng lost 7-6 (12-10), 6-4 to 13th-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova in the second match of the day for both women. Rybarikova next faces Urszula Radwanska, who was a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 winner over Julia Goerges in the third round.

Third-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak dropped a 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 7-5 decision to Melinda Czink while fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-2 to Sania Mirza. Those upset winners are paired against each other in the quarters.

The other match Friday has fourth-seeded Li Na playing Stefanie Voegele. Both won third-round matches in straight sets.