TOKYO — Sam Stosur knocked two-time champion Maria Sharapova out of the Pan Pacific Open Thursday, reaching the semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (10) victory over the Russian. Stosur broke Sharapova to go up 5-3 in the second set but then lost nine straight points as the Russian 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 wasn't thinking about the points I lost but was focusing on how I was going to make the next points.” Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka withdrew after a bout of dizziness in her third-round match Wednesday, sending Angelique Kerber of Germany to the semifinals. “Before the tournament on Sunday I was starting to feel not really good,” Azarenka said. “I haven't really been doing better since then. Just low energy, you could tell by the matches I wasn't my usual self. But it took too much energy over the last two matches to really push and today it's just not really possible for me.” Also, Nadia Petrova of Russia, trailing 4-1 in the second set, overcame sixth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. She will next face Stosur on Friday. Defending champion and third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in the late quarterfinal and will face Kerber in the semifinals on Friday. For Sharapova, it was only her second loss in 11 matches against Stosur, who has reached her first semifinal match since the French Open. Sharapova, who won the tournament in Tokyo in 2005 and 2009, struggled with her serve and had five double-faults. “She played a very steady game and I had a few more unforced errors than I would have liked,” Sharapova said. “It's disappointing to lose but you have to take every disappointment and turn it into a positive. It's really about thinking what I can do to improve for the next tournament.” Monfils in quarters Gael Monfils made back-to-back quarterfinals by ousting sixth-seeded Victor Troicki of Serbia 7-5 7-5 in the second round of the Thailand Open Thursday. Monfils reached the last four last week in Metz, his first tournament since May because of a right knee injury. The Frenchman used five breaks of serve to trump the three he lost to beat Troicki a third straight time. In the quarterfinals he'll meet countryman and 2009 champion Gilles Simon, who defeated Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-4. Bernard Tomic of Australia booked his first quarterfinal since April by edging Dudi Sela of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first-time matchup of big servers. Raonic hit 14 aces to nine, and converted his only break point chance of three while offering no chances to Karlovic in Impact Arena. Next for him will be Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. Also, Fernando Verdasco of Spain accounted for Donald Young of the U.S. 7-5, 6-4. Nishikori in last 8 Kei Nishikori of Japan reached his seventh quarterfinals of a breakthrough season when he beat Albert Ramos of Spain 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1 in the Malaysian Open Thursday. On Friday, the third-seeded Nishikori will play Nikolay Davydenko. The second-seeded Juan Monaco began his chase for a fourth title this year by beating Taiwanese wild card Jimmy Wang 6-4, 7-5. The Argentine responded to losing his serve three times by breaking Wang five times. Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, the No. 4 seed who also had a first-round bye, lost to Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Falla's second quarterfinal of the year will be against Julien Benneteau of France. Dutchman Igor Sijsling served up only his sixth win of the year with a second-round upset of No. 5 Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (2). They played impeccably on serve with 11 aces each and no break points conceded, but Lopez crumbled in both tiebreaks. Davydenko, the inaugural Malaysian champion three years ago, defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-4 for his second quarterfinals in two weeks. — Agencies
