Stosur exits, Sharapova and Wozniacki advance

WTA Indian Wells Women Singles resultsWozniacki bt Arvidsson 3-6, 7-5, 6-2Ivanovic bt Pervak 6-7, 6-3, 6-2Sharapova bt Halep 6-3, 6-4Bartoli bt Scheepers 6-2, 6-0Petrova bt Stosur 6-1, 6-7, 7-6INDIAN WELLS - U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur made a premature exit at the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Monday while Maria Sharapova and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki both advanced.Sixth-seeded Stosur lost a see-sawing third round encounter with Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-7 7-6 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, before Sharapova finally wrapped up a 6-3 6-4 win against Romania’s Simona Halep on the fifth match point.In the final match of the day, Denmark’s Wozniacki recovered from a shaky opening set to battle past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 3-6 7-5 6-2 after a fluctuating tussle lasting two hours and 37 minutes.Petrova, beaten 7-6 6-7 7-5 by Stosur at last year’s U.S. Open in the tournament’s longest women’s match of the tiebreak era, squealed with delight after the Australian pushed a forehand wide to end an encounter lasting close to three hours.The Russian, once ranked as high as third in the world but has now slipped to 33rd, will next meet compatriot Maria Kirilenko, who beat Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2 4-6 6-4.Sharapova, the 2006 champion, led Halep 6-3 and 5-0 before inexplicably losing her way. The Romanian held for 1-5 and the Russian then squandered three match points on serve before being broken in the seventh and ninth games.“I started rushing and playing long in the second set,” said Sharapova, who will next face Italy’s Roberta Vinci, a 6-7 6-0 6-4 winner against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

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Stosur exits, Sharapova and Wozniacki advance