* Petrova avenges U.S. Open loss to Stosur
* Sharapova needs five match points to secure victory
* Wozniacki continues defence of title
(updates with Wozniacki win, third para)
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 12 (Reuters) – 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.
Australian Stosur was broken by Petrova when serving for the
match at 6-5 in the third set and the Russian capitalised by
holding her serve and sealing a victory 7-5 in the tiebreak.
Stosur had been swept aside by her big-serving opponent in
the opening set and then saved one match point in the second set
tiebreak before clawing her way back to level the match.
Continued…
