STUTTGART — Defending champion Maria Sharapova defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 Thursday to set up a Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinal with top seed Agnieszka Radwanska. The sixth-seeded Sharapova needed a little over an hour and a half to defeat her fellow Russian, keeping alive her dream of winning the tournament for the third year in a row. Polish world No. 3 Radwanska was rarely troubled in wrapping up her 6-3, 6-2 win over Italy's Roberta Vinci. Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic rallied after losing the first set to beat Flavia Pennetta of Italy 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 for a quarterfinal place against Alisa Kleybanova, who upset the third-seeded Petra Kvitova Wednesday. Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic also lost her first set against German wild card Julia Goerges, but recovered to prevail 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Almagro upsets Verdasco World No. 20 Nicolas Almagro overcame fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3 to move into the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open Thursday, avenging his defeat in the Houston final. Verdasco had beaten Almagro to take the title in Houston 11 days ago, but the sixth seed took his revenge as just one break in the eighth game was enough to take the first set. Both men broke towards the start of the second set, but again Almagro made his move again towards the end of the set as he broke once more to seal victory. Almagro will face top seed Rafael Nadal or Croatia's Ivan Dodig in the last eight. There was to be no such joy for another Spaniard Tommy Robredo, though, as he succumbed to 12th seed Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-7 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5). Cilic will face Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori in the quarters as he eased to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev. Nishikori is making his first appearance of the season on clay in the Catalan capital and after struggling past Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets on Tuesday, he seemed more at ease as he equalled his best-ever run in Barcelona by reaching the last eight. Ninth seed Ernests Gulbis also secured his place with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Albert Montanes. The Latvian will face Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili in the last eight after he continued his fine week after shocking second seed David Ferrer on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Inigo Cervantes. Hantuchova advances In Morocco, top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia beat last year's runner-up Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 7-5, 6-2 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix SAR. Hantuchova won five straight games to take the first set and lead 2-0 in the second. The fifth-seeded Garbine Muguruza broke serve six times in her 6-3, 6-2 win over Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland. In her return from injury, Polona Hercog of Slovenia cruised past seventh-seeded Zhang Shuai of China 6-2, 6-2 to move into the second round. — Agencies
