Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic by defeating top seed Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-3 Saturday. Azarenka, seeded eighth and ranked 18th in the world, will play the winner of a late semifinal between No. 5-seeded Maria Sharapova and No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Sharapova outlasted fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in a match that lasted 2 hours, 47 minutes in the quarterfinals Friday. It was another classic battle between two of the top Russians in the women's game, and was the longest match of the tournament. Azarenka beat defending champion Marion Bartoli 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Stosur won 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 over No. 7 Yanina Wickmayer. Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Belarus' Maria Kirilenko, 7-5, 6-0, in another quarterfinal. Ferrero to face Starace Juan Carlos Ferrero reached the Croatia Open final for a second straight year after dispatching Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals Saturday. Ferrero, who lost to Nikolay Davydenko in last year's clay-court final, will meet Potito Starace of Italy Sunday. Starace beat eighth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to make his first final in three years. Former No. 1 Ferrero will appear in his fourth final this year. He won in Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires and was runner-up at Acapulco. In his 33rd career final, he's looking for his 15th title. Chela, who ousted top-seeded Davydenko in the quarterfinals Friday, lost control after winning the tiebreaker, losing his serve five times. Starace blew a 5-2 lead in the first set, but turned momentum when he broke at 2-2 in the second. Pavlyuchenkova vs. Vesnina Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has advanced to the final of the Istanbul Cup with a 7-6 (1), 2-6, 7-5 win over Australian Jarmila Groth. She will play another Russian, Elena Vesnina, who upset sixth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany, 1-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2) in the other semifinal Saturday. The No. 29-ranked Pavlyuchenkova fended off strong serving from Groth, who had 11 aces. The victory gives the Russian her best tournament showing since she won her first WTA Tour singles title at the Monterrey Open in Mexico in March. Querrey beats Schuettler Defending champion Sam Querrey defeated Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7) in the quarterfinals of the Farmers Classic Friday. The second-seeded American used back-to-back big serves in the tiebreaker to win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus. In Saturday's semifinals, he'll face sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who beat No. 3 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 7-5 for his first win in three meetings. Top-seeded Andy Murray beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 (7), 6-1 to set up a semifinal against No. 4 Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Lopez outlasted American wild-card James Blake 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. Blake double faulted to lose the second set, then unsuccessfully challenged a sideline call on match point and lost. Gasquet to face Almagro Frenchman Richard Gasquet has beaten Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the final of the Swiss Open. Gasquet, the 2006 champion on Gstaad's outdoor clay, will meet Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the final Sunday. Second-seeded Almagro beat countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3. In the quarters, Schukin defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, Gasquet beat Albert Montanes of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-4, Almagro beat Jeremy Chardy of France, 6-2, 7-6 (5) and Gimeno-Traver won 6-2, 6-4 over Igor Andreev of Russia.
