Maria Kirilenko continues strong run at Indian Wells, will face Maria Sharapova

On a long day of tennis in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, fifth-seeded former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic was among the casualties in matches that finished during daylight hours. She lost in a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Maria Kirilenko of Russia.

Kirilenko, seeded 15th and getting closer to a top-10 ranking, defeated No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in her previous match and said afterward, “I can compete, and as you can see, I can beat them.”

Maria Sharapova joined Kirilenko in one semifinal with a late-night victory Wednesday.

Sharapova ousted Italy’s Sara Errani, 7-6 (6), 6-2. Sharapova is seeded No. 3 and Errani was seeded No. 6.

On a long day of tennis, Sharapova’s match, scheduled to start at 7 p.m., didn’t get underway until 10:04 p.m. and finished at 12:05 a.m.

Errani fought the bigger, stronger Sharapova in a hard first set, then hit a shot well beyond the baseline on set point in the tiebreaker. She challenged the call and the Hawkeye camera showed that it missed by two feet.

Sharapova won the title in Indian Wells in 2006 and was runner-up to Victoria Azarenka last year.

Making their way into the men’s quarterfinals Wednesday were third-seeded Scotsman Andy Murray, a 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina; unseeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa, getting past 13th-seeded Giles Simon of France, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who beat American Sam Querry, 6-0, 7-6 (6); eighth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who defeated rising Canadian star Milos Raonic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4; Czech Republic veteran Tomas Berdych, seeded sixth, taking 10th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 6-1, 7-5, and seventh-seeded former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. He beat Tommy Haas, of Germany and Los Angeles, 6-1, 6-2.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com