A week for hard lessons at Carson

Maria Sharapova didn’t give up or give in.

This summer series of hard court tennis is a progression of lessons for Sharapova, the world’s second-ranked player and the East West Bank Classic’s top-seeded player.

If a hot summer breeze turns your forehand into a stalled ball that flops into the net, figure out how to hit it under the wind. If that same breeze pushes at your back, tap into your inner physics teacher and deduce that a little spin can keep the ball between the white lines of the stadium court at the Home Depot Center.

Sharapova shrugged away the fact that her serve was broken nine times Thursday afternoon and celebrated that she persevered to win a 2 hour 47-minute third-round match against 18-year-old Michaella Krajicek, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-4.

For Sharapova this stretch of August tennis -- she won the Acura Classic last week at Carlsbad -- is about only one thing: preparing to defend her U.S. Open title.

“It does get really windy in New York,” Sharapova said. “So it’s good to be in these positions, being down, trying to close out the match. I want to take that confidence and bring it into the Open.”

In tonight’s quarterfinals, Sharapova will play fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, the defending champion.

The ninth-seeded Dementieva advanced with a 6-3, 4-1 victory over fifth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who retired in the second set because of an upper respiratory infection -- an ailment that has touched several players, including second-seeded Jelena Jankovic.

Serbia’s Jankovic, who is still coughing after acquiring her cold last week, nonetheless beat Sybille Bammer of Austria, 6-2, 6-1.

Another Serbian star, third-seeded Ana Ivanovic, produced a whirlwind of lobs, drop shots, edgy volleys and massive groundstrokes in her 6-2, 6-2 win over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Ivanovic, 19, was a surprise finalist at the French Open and semifinalist at Wimbledon this year. This is her first post-Wimbledon tournament since recovering from a sore knee and Ivanovic proclaimed herself pleased. “I’m happy to see myself play so good,” Ivanovic said, not boastfully but truthfully. She will play unseeded Russian Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals.

Jankovic meets 18-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, and fourth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova plays French veteran Virginie Razzano in the other quarterfinals.

It took Sharapova until her third match point, when she resolutely whacked a cross-court forehand return winner, to end this quirky test. The final point was, fittingly, Sharapova’s 10th break point converted.

“Playing against the wind, it was pretty difficult,” Sharapova said. “It felt like a break-fest out there.”

While sometimes it seems the top players will decide in these non-major tournaments that the work is more drudgery than helpful if a match dawdles into tiebreakers or lags into a third set, Sharapova said she was all about problem solving Thursday.

“On the side with the wind, I was trying to put a little more spin on the ball,” she said. “Against the wind I had to adjust, the main thing, adjust with my feet instead of thinking where and how hard to hit it.”

Just often enough Sharapova got her feet going and her angles calculated. When she walked off the court a gust of wind ruffled her dress. But not her game.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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Featured matches

STADIUM COURT

Play begins today at noon

Nadia Petrova vs. Virginie Razzano

followed by

Ana Ivanovic vs. Maria Kirilenko

followed by

Jelena Jankovic vs. Victoria Azarenka

not before 8:30 p.m.

Maria Sharapova vs. Elena Dementieva

Los Angeles Times