Angelique Kerber advanced to the final four in Paris, following her straight-sets upset of top seed Maria Sharapova.  The German converted five of 5 break points through to a 6-4, 6-4 victory in 91 minutes.

Joining Kerber in the semifinal are 2nd seed Marion Bartoli and Klara Zakopalova, who took out 6th seed Julia Goerges.  The final slot will be filled by either Yanina Wickmayer or qualifier Mona Barthel.

At the Pattaya Open, top seed Vera Zvonareva was forced to retire during her quarterfinal match with 7th seed Sorana Cirstea.  The players had reached 2-2 in the final set, when the Russian called it a day with a left hip injury.

“It started bothering me already in the beginning of the first set, and it was getting worse and worse,” said Zvonareva.

“I was doing my best, but it was too tough for me to push off from that leg and it was very difficult to focus on the game. I did everything I could but just couldn’t continue anymore.”

Completing the semifinal line-up are (4) Maria Kirilenko, Su-Wei Hsieh and defending champion Daniela Hantuchova.