Sharapova reaches Stanford semi

Sharapova recorded her ninth victory over Dementieva

Maria Sharapova defeated fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4 2-6 6-3 at the Stanford Classic in California to reach her fourth semi-final of the year.

Fifth seed Sharapova responded to losing the second set to the number two seed by going for her shots in the third and got her reward.

"I had to pick it up and put more balls in play and I think she was surprised I kept them in court," said Sharapova.

She faces Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Maria Kirilenko, in the last four.

The Polish number three seed eased to a 7-5 6-0 victory over Russian Kirilenko in a match of complete contrast to Sharapova's, which at two hours, 47 minutes, was the longest of the tournament.

"I wasn't swinging through well," Sharapova added. "Sometimes my arm doesn't want to swing. I didn't want to let up on my serve, though. I wanted to keep going for it.

"When things aren't going that well, you keep doing the right things and hope it turns around."

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Dementieva, who has recovered from a shoulder injury and was playing in her first tournament since the French Open, was satisfied with her performance despite losing.

"This is what I was hoping for, to play a few tough matches here, to feel the competition and feel the game," she explained.

"I feel like I played much better than my first match. My serve wasn't good enough and she was serving very well. It was a pretty tough game but hopefully the next time it's going to help me."

In the other quarter-finals, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus recorded her fourth successive victory over France's Marion Bartoli to knock out the defending champion.

Bartoli looked on course for a comfortable win after using her powerful groundstrokes to open up a 6-3 3-1 lead, but Azarenka held serve in her next game and then reeled off seven more in succession to take control.

After the match, Bartoli claimed that Azarenka's loud grunts had distracted her.

"It's difficult to play against those kinds of players," she said. "It's fine to grunt sometimes when you make an effort, but sometimes it's just so loud.

"It's hard to focus on the other side of the net. But it's not something I can get bothered by, because otherwise I would lose my concentration so much.

"I just need to forget about it, but it's hard."

Azarenka faces number one seed Sam Stosur in the last four after the Australian edged past Yanina Wickmayer 7-5 3-6 6-3.

"It was tough from the first game to the end," said Stosur. "I got a little flat in the second set and I was down 2-0 down in the third when I finally started to pick it up and stayed away from playing into her patterns."

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