Sharapova advances to Cincinnati quarters, other Grand Slam champions lose

Last week it was Serena Williams who won when five other Grand Slam champions lost in Toronto, and on Thursday in Cincinnati Maria Sharapova was sole such winner. To reach the quarterfinals Sharapova defeated US Open and Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, and three other Grand Slam champions lost their third-round matches.

In the first set Sharapova broke Kuznetsova for a 3-2 lead and then won five straight games until 2-0 in the second set. Late in the second set Kuznetsova broke Sharapova’s serve, but Sharapova soon advanced with a 6-2 6-3 victory.

Other Grand Slam champions in action, Petra Kvitova, Francesca Schiavone and Li Na, didn’t advance to the quarterfinals. Kvitova, the winner of Wimbledon 2011, fell to Andrea Petkovic 6-3 6-3. Roland Garros 2010 champion Schiavone lost to Jelena Jankovic 6-3 5-7 6-4. Jankovic revealed that laziness played a role in her bad results. Reigning Roland Garros champion Li was defeated by Samantha Stosur 6-4 3-6 6-4.

Sharapova’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Samantha Stosur, against whom she has an impressive 8-0 head-to-head record.

And talking about Sharapova, Novak Djokovic has returned to his famous impersonations of the Russian, this time for a Head commercial. Djokovic is wearing a blond wig :). By the way, Sharapova is also using a Head racquet.

Here’s Maria’s comment from her Facebook page:

HAHAHA did you see what Novak Djokovic posted? Hey @Novak, is that your new road to success – trying to be me? I am a little disappointed you did not wear my dress and think you could work on your body language a bit more! And the hair… no comment on that… what do you guys think?

(via Maria Sharapova’s official website, photo: © Neal Trousdale)