Sharapova Proves Resilient

As the lost match points continued to build at an alarming rate Tuesday, it was only natural that Maria Sharapova’s memory hit rewind, scrolling back to a dismal day of lost opportunity.

“Obviously I’m not going to deny it, but it comes back into your mind,” Sharapova said.

It would be the Australian Open against Serena Williams in January. Sharapova squandered three match points in a semifinal loss to Williams. Still, the lessons learned in Melbourne somehow translated to Indian Wells even though Sharapova made some of the same mistakes of impatience.

The 17-year-old Russian survived this time, defeating Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open in just under two hours. It took her six match points to move on, or about an extra half hour after the first one.

“It was a big battle out there,” Sharapova said. “I basically committed suicide when I had those four match points, especially when I came into the net and stayed in the middle -- like in the no zone.”

On Sharapova’s first match point, at 5-2 in the third set, Zuluaga went sprinting to her right and launched a terrific forehand passing shot on the run, down the line.

Sharapova was particularly hard on herself, saying she had to stay on the court 30 minutes more “for no reason.” She had three more match points, on Zuluaga’s serve in the 10th game. Zuluaga survived an 0-40 deficit when Sharapova made three consecutive errors. In the 12th game, Sharapova had another match point before finally closing it out on the sixth.

In one of the two quarterfinals Thursday, the third-seeded Sharapova will face Mary Pierce of France. The resurgent Pierce upset No. 6 Nadia Petrova of Russia, 6-2, 6-2.

Today’s quarterfinals will feature an all-Russian match between fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 4 Elena Dementieva and Kim Clijsters of Belgium will face Conchita Martinez of Spain.

Kuznetsova, Martinez, Clijsters and No. 7 Nathalie Dechy of France won their fourth-round matches in straight sets. Dementieva beat Tatiana Golovin of France, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Kuznetsova defeated qualifier Rika Fujiwara of Japan, 6-3, 6-2; Martinez beat qualifier Maria Kirilenko of Russia; and Dechy defeated wild card Jessica Kirkland, 7-5, 6-2. Clijsters looked convincing, winning, 6-2, 6-1, against the fast-rising Evgenia Linetskaya of Russia.

“If you let her dictate the points, I think she can play really well,” Clijsters said. “I saw that against Amelie [Mauresmo] as well. She was really stepping into the court and she was the one who was always dominating all the time. She didn’t really miss.

“Today I just had to make sure that I mixed my game up a little bit, not hit with her all the time, just mix it up, hit a few slices, a few drop shots.”

Lindsay Davenport defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova of the Ukraine, 6-1, 6-4.