Shahar Pe'er's run at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, came to an end with a straight sets loss to Australian Samantha Stosur, but she stayed the course in doubles, reaching the semifinals together with German partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Pe'er, who is ranked 26th in the world and seeded seventh at Stanford, had trouble against Stosur's (43) powerful serve. A break in the 12th game made the difference in the first set and another in the sixth game of the second set paved the way for Stosur, the top ranked doubles player on the circuit, to reach the quarters, 7-5, 6-3.
"I think I served very well. That was probably the thing I did the best out there today," Stosur told the tournament Web site. "She never really got a chance to attack my serve. She has very good ground strokes and as soon as the ball drops, she's always looking to do something with it and try to finish the point.
"I didn't really give her a chance to do that, especially on my service games."
The loss didn't seem to affect Pe'er when she joined Groenefeld on center court for their doubles second-round encounter. Playing in their first tournament together, the rising stars stifled Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and Canada's Maureen Drake 6-2, 6-3 to cruise to the semifinals.
They won't play their next game until Friday at the earliest. Their opponents will be the winners of Thursday's quarterfinal pitting one of Pe'er's former partners, France's Marion Bartoli, and Poland's Marta Domachowska against Americans Jill Craybass and Meilin Tu.
Israeli No. 2, Anna Smashnova (63), also returns to action Friday against top seed Catalina Castano (35) of Colombia in the Budapest Grand Prix quarterfinals.
The matchup is a repeat of last year's Budapest final, which Smashnova won 6-2, 6-2.
Castano advanced to the quarters with a 6-7(9), 6-1, 6-3 win Thursday morning over France's Aravane Rezai (91). Smashnova ousted Spain's Laura Pous Tio (107) in straight sets on Wednesday.
