Sharapova, Dementieva reach quarters

Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva breezed into the quarter finals of the Stanford Classic on Wednesday, crushing their second-round opponents with equal efficiency.

A red-hot Sharapova destroyed fifth seed and compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2, before world number four Dementieva despatched another Russian in Maria Kirilenko with the same scoreline.

Sharapova, who came back from shoulder surgery in May after nearly 10 months off the tour, overwhelmed Petrova with precise serving, huge returns and razor-sharp groundstrokes in a stunning return to form.

"Against an opponent like her I have to play really well," three-times grand slam champion Sharapova told reporters.

"She's really explosive and it's important to take care of service games and get looks at second serves. I put pressure on her and did a lot of things well today."

After shaking off the rust with a three-set defeat of Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama in the first round on Monday, Sharapova was rarely troubled by Petrova, who stretched her to three sets at the French Open second round in May.

Sharapova will play the winner of the match between Venus Williams and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.

With a 3-2 advantage head-to-head, Sharapova said she would love a quarter-final showdown with American world number three Williams, who she has beaten in all three hardcourt encounters.

"Its always great to come back and play someone who's at the top of the game and playing pretty well. I always relish playing the top players," she said.

"I'd love to play against her," Sharapova said.

Dementieva had few problems with 52nd-ranked Kirilenko, who appeared tired after her marathon three and half hour win over Anna Chakvetadze on Tuesday.

The Wimbledon semi-finalist was solid and quick off the baseline, consistently running down blasts from Kirilenko and firing them back as winners.

"I played some good points," said Dementieva.

"She has good variety in her game and can mix it up. But I tried to come in and take advantage of the net and her strategy didn't have any effect on the outcome."

Australia's Samantha Stosur defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1, 7-5 in other second round action on Wednesday.