SAN DIEGO : Second seed Maria Sharapova crushed defending champion Mary Pierce 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Acura Classic semifinals. The Russian will meet fifth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who beat No. 4 Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-3.

Seventh seed Nicole Vaidisova of Czech Republic also advanced to the final four with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Russian Anna Chakvetadze. Vaidisova will take on top-seeded Kim Clijsters who defeated Martina Hingis 7-5, 6-2 in a sloppy battle of former No. 1 players.

Clijsters, ranked second in the world, won a tough first set in which both players made numerous unforced errors. But the Belgian took control in the second set with aggressive play to extend her winning streak to 23 matches in North American summer hardcourt events.

``When you play against Martina, you have to win the points against her,'' Clijsters said.

Hingis committed 34 unforced errors, while Clijsters had 27. Hingis also hit just 18 winners, compared to 25 for Clijsters.

Sharapova, ranked No. 4, won her third consecutive straight-set match as she overwhelmed Pierce. The Russian teenager ran off seven straight games to overcome a 2-1 first-set deficit and take a 2-0 lead in the second.

``I thought I played solid,'' said Sharapova, who reached the semifinals for the eighth time in nine tournaments this season. ``After that first break in the second set, I felt pretty much in control.''

Sharapova wasted little time dispatching Pierce, who was playing in her third tournament after missing six months with injuries.

Sania loses

Sania Mirza and her South African partner Liezel Huber crashed out of the doubles competition after losing to German Anna-Lena Groenefeld and USA's Meghann Shaughnessy in the quarterfinals.

Sania and Liezel, seeded eighth at the event, went down 6-2, 7-5 against the fourth-seeded German-American pair.

At Washington, former champion Lleyton Hewitt was upset by France's Arnaud Clement 7-6(1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Classic on Friday.

With 11 aces, Clement earned his first victory over third-seeded Hewitt in eight matches since 1999.

``We've played a couple of tough matches, but he was always a little better at the important moments,'' Clement said. ``Today was different.''

Clement will face Marat Safin, who followed up his defeat of top-seeded James Blake by outlasting South Africa's Wesley Moodie 7-6(5), 7-6(9) in just under two hours.

Seventh-seeded Tursunov was runner-up in Los Angeles last week and was sure to improve his career-high 29th ranking with a semifinal against British No. 1 Andy Murray. Murray struggled to put away Mardy Fish of the United States 6-2, 6-4.

The results (all quarterfinals):

At San Diego, Acura Classic: Patty Schnyder bt Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-3; Nicole Vaidisova bt Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Maria Sharapova bt Mary Pierce 6-2, 6-3; Kim Clijsters bt Martina Hingis 7-5, 6-2.

At Washington, Legg Mason Classic: Arnaud Clement bt Lleyton Hewitt 7-6(1), 6-4; Andy Murray bt Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov bt Tim Henman 6-3, 6-2; Marat Safin bt Wesley Moodie 7-6(5), 7-6(9).

At Sopot, Prokom Open: Agustin Calleri bt Michal Przysiezny 6-4, 6-2; Florian Mayer bt Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-4, 6-0. — Agencies

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