Rain Comes to the Rescue, Again, as Sharapova Advances to the Semifinals

Maria Sharapova fell abaft by 0-4 to Marion Bartoli afore rain abeyant play on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Sharapova was sharper, and she will play top-ranked Victoria Azarenka next.

Sara Errani, right, hugged her doubles partner, Roberta Vinci, afterwards eliminating her from the women's singles competition. 

For the additional beeline match, a rain adjournment helped Sharapova balance from a all-a-quiver start, and she fought aback to outlive Marion Bartoli of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in their quarterfinal, which started afore the rain Tuesday and accomplished Wednesday afternoon.

Sharapova fell behind, 0-4, on Tuesday, if the bout was delayed and afresh postponed. Bartoli won the set if play resumed Wednesday, but Sharapova was far beneath ashamed and bound formed her way back into the match. 

“I anticipate that rain breach gave me a few hours to anticipate about things,” Sharapova said. “I came out so collapsed bygone and she was on fire. She is so tough. I am so blessed to win this one.” 

Sharapova avant-garde to play No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals Friday. Azarenka, who exhausted Sharapova in the Australian Open final in January, accomplished her quarterfinal adjoin Samantha Stosur on Tuesday afore the rain abstruse the schedule. 

The breach in the acclimate accustomed the men to breach the adjournment in their tournament, too, even admitting the blotchy acclimate larboard them arena in foreground of dispersed crowds. 

A scattering of admirers at Louis Armstrong Stadium watched No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic get accomplished No. 18-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, who retired because of an affliction with Djokovic up, 6-4, 6-1, 3-1. Djokovic avant-garde to the quarterfinals, area he will play Juan Martín Del Potro. 

No. 8-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, Djokovic’s Serbian Davis Cup teammate, aswell got through with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2 achievement over No. 19-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. He will play David Ferrer of Spain, the No. 4 berry in a quarterfinal Thursday. 

Andy Murray avant-garde to the semifinals by ambulatory to a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-0 achievement over Marin Cilic of Croatia. 

In the added women’s quarterfinal Wednesday afternoon, Sara Errani won the action with her doubles partner, Roberta Vinci, 6-2, 6-4. A dispersed army in Armstrong Stadium was advised to two acceptable friends’ arena anniversary added in a 1-hour-12-minute match. Admirers may accept been calmly abashed because the two wore the aforementioned pink-and-black outfits. 

“A quarterfinal with your best friend, of course, is difficult,” Errani said. “We apperceive anniversary added actual well. We played calm abounding times. So was aswell aberrant to see her on the added ancillary of the net. 

“I anticipate we played an acceptable match. The astriction is normal. It’s not astonishing match, but we played an acceptable match, I think.”

Errani avant-garde to play No. 4-seeded Serena Williams, who exhausted No. 12-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-3. 

The rain anarchy seemed a allowance to Sharapova.

Bartoli had powered through the aboriginal four amateur Tuesday, while Sharapova seemed to attempt with everything. Bartoli was arena at her accepted alarming pace, bouncing on her toes, and exuding energy. Sharapova, in contrast, looked abhorrent while confined and could not get a apprehend on Bartoli’s much-improved serve. If the rains came, sending the players scurrying off the court, it acquainted like a abatement for Sharapova, who would accept a day to amount out how to dig out of that 0-4 hole. 

After addition aborted alpha Wednesday morning — the players broiled up, alone to accept the rain alpha afresh — the bout resumed just afterwards 1 p.m., with sunshine assuredly breaking through the clamminess and gloom. 

Bartoli did not get rolling quickly, as Sharapova affective a breach of serve if Bartoli double-faulted on breach point in the aboriginal game. But Bartoli did acquisition her canal afresh in that set, brushed off the breach and won it, 6-3. 

The additional set started inauspiciously for both players, with two account breach abstemious with bifold faults in the aboriginal two games. They seemed to achieve their fretfulness afterwards that and resumed a accent battle, but Bartoli began aged on her account amateur afresh after in the set. She dug out of an 0-40 aperture in one but could not escape the next time, at 3-4, if she fell behind, 0-30. Sharapova sensed an aperture and formed a forehand champ on breach point to grab ascendancy of the set. She served it out, at 6-3, with an ace.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle, with added traded breach of serve. But Sharapova, admitting 11 bifold faults, began to boss her account amateur while Bartoli struggled to authority hers. Sharapova’s absolute breach came if they were tied, 4-4; she formed her shots abysmal while Bartoli accolade abominably to acknowledgment them. 

Sharapova bankrupt it out afresh on her serve, application an ace and a account champ to accent it. 

It was Sharapova’s 12th beeline achievement in a three-set bout this year, a band that includes a improvement in her fourth-round achievement over Nadia Petrova, a bout that was delayed by rain for added than an hour in the third set. 

Asked what the abstruse was, Sharapova just shrugged. 

“I’m not sure,” she said. “A little bit of luck consistently helps. You work, you work, you plan and you get in those situations and you figure, it’s a best-of-one-set match. It’s just about who wins the endure point.” 

Sharapova, 25, has one above in the coffer this year, accepting won the French Open. But she has absent in two added big finals — the Australian Open to Azarenka and the Olympics to Serena Williams — and had not played a clash back the Olympic final.