MOSCOW, 13 October 2005 — Maria Sharapova scraped into the Kremlin Cup quarterfinals when Anna-Lena Groenefeld retired with an ankle injury leading their match 6-1, 4-2 yesterday.

The unseeded German was 4-1 ahead of the world No. 1 and top seed in the second set when she slipped and twisted her left ankle.

After a medical time-out during which the ankle was taped, Groenefeld, on the brink of tears, played three more points before quitting.

“I knew I didn’t win this match fairly. I don’t like such victories,” Sharapova told reporters.

“But strange things do happen in tennis and today’s match was one of them.” Groenefeld had dominated Sharapova from the start of the second-round match.

The Florida-based Russian, who was making her Kremlin Cup debut, was broken three times in the opening set, losing her serve to love in the third and seventh games.

Sharapova again surrendered her serve in the fourth game of the second set when she hit a lame forehand into the net on break point to fall 1-3 behind. Groenefeld won the next game and held two break points in the sixth before stumbling on the baseline as she tried to reach Sharapova’s forehand.

Third seed Mary Pierce of France became the first player to reach the last eight, outlasting experienced Italian Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in nearly two hours.

Anastasia Myskina, who is gunning for a Kremlin Cup hat trick this year, also had to dig into her reserves to beat three-times former winner Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. The men’s tournament lost its top two seeds in the first round. Defending champion and top seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia was knocked out by 95th-ranked Italian Daniele Bracciali 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and second-seeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty went down to unseeded Frenchman Cyril Saulnier 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Ljubicic Waltzes Through

in Vienna

Ivan Ljubicic won his eighth straight match to reach the second round of the Vienna Trophy yesterday, beating Argentina’s Agustin Calleri 6-4, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Ljubicic recently won both his matches in Croatia’s Davis Cup semifinal victory over Russia, and then captured his second ATP title with victory over Gael Monfils in Metz on Sunday. But it was Ljubicic who was under pressure in the early stages yesterday, saving break points in his opening two service games as Calleri won his first two service games without conceding a point.

Ljubicic eventually held for 1-0 with an ace, and when down break point at 1-1 he fired three consecutive aces to hold.

Games continued to go with serve until a netted backhand from Calleri gave Ljubicic a set point at 5-4, and the Argentine made a forehand error to concede the set.

Petrova, Vaidisova Move Into

Second Round in Thailand

In Bangkok, Russian top seed Nadia Petrova eased past her Spanish opponent into the second round of the $200,000 Thailand Open tournament yesterday.

Petrova thumped eight aces and four services breaks to stop Nuria Llagostera Vives, ranked 51st in the world, in a 52-minute match.

The world No. 9 said she struggled to adjust to the lights at the beginning but she played well on important points.

Czech second seed Nicole Vaidisova was led by American world No. 103, Abigail Spears, 5-3 in the first set before she bounced back with a number of winners in the next four games and claimed the first set 7-5 in 52 minutes.

Argentine Gisela Dulko booked her place in the quarterfinals after beating wildcard Virginia Ruano Pascual from Spain 6-2, 6-3 while France’s Stephanie Foretz beat Martina Sucha from Slovakia 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.