Maleeva ousted
ByReuters
Published 11/06/2004 at 07:57 GMT
Champion Magdalena Maleeva was denied a shot at winning back-to-back Birmingham titles at the Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up event, losing to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn on Thursday. Seeded fourth, Maleeva got off to a fantastic start but was reeled in b
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"She killed me in the first set, everything was a winner," Tamarine said. "She was even hitting aces on second serves. But I fought hard and got back into the game.
"It really was a high quality match. I love coming to Birmingham, I like the courts here and grass really suits my game."
Tamarine is now favourite to come out of the top half of the draw and reach the final.
She next takes on ninth seed Emilie Loit of France in the quarter-finals while rising French teenager Tatiana Golovin -- winner of the French Open mixed doubles crown with Richard Gasquet last week, takes on Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.
Loit beat Akiko Morigami 6-4 7-6.
In the bottom half of the draw, third seed Maria Sharapova advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-3 win over Australia's Samantha Stosur.
"I really want to win this tournament as I had such a great experience here last year," Russian Sharapova said.
"Today was only my second match on grass this year, so I'm still improving but I am enjoying myself out there.
"She got off to a really great start today and is difficult to play as you don't play many serve and volley players, but I just hung in there and played my game."
Sharapova faces a tough task in Friday's quarter-final against eighth seed Alicia Molik of Australia in the glamour match of the day.
The winner will take on Swiss second seed Patty Schnyder, who beat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain 6-4 6-3.
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