Sharapova hurt so Kvitova into Tokyo semis

TOKYO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Petra Kvitova again came out ahead of Maria Sharapova and advanced Thursday to the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament.

Kvitova defeated Sharapova in the finals at the Wimbledon Championships in July. The first rematch turned anti-climatic when Sharapova, ranked No. 2 in the world, turned an ankle with Kvitova leading 4-3 in the first set and retired from the match.

That put Kvitova, the No. 5 seed, into Friday's semifinals against fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Maria Kirilenko in her quarterfinal Thursday. Zvonareva won nearly three-quarters of the points on serve and didn't suffer a break while improving to 6-0 lifetime against Kirilenko.

No. 3 Victoria Azarenka ousted seventh-seeded Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-0 and ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) in Thursday's other matches.

Azarenka won two-thirds of the points off Bartoli's serve in the second set in earning her semifinal slot. Kanepi had seven aces but Radwanska still won half the points when receiving serve.

Azarenka takes a 5-2 series advantage over Radwanska into their semifinal. The Zvonareva-Kvitova series is even at 2-2.

Friday's winners move into the tournament finals Saturday with a first-place check of $360,000 at stake.