Stosur reaches quarterfinals at Stanford

Samantha Stosur set up a possible quarterfinal meeting with Serena Williams Wednesday by defeating Monica Niculescu at the Bank of the West Classic.

Stosur won her second-round match 6-1, 7-5 and will meet Williams in the quarterfinals if Williams can get past Melinda Czink in their second-round match Thursday.

Third-seeded Elena Dementieva reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Anna Chakvetadze. Dementieva will meet the winner of the match between Agnieszka Radwanska and Daniela Hantuchova.

In the other contests Wednesday, Maria Sharapova was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova and Melanie Oudin completed the first round by defeating Hilary Barte 6-2, 6-1.

Venus Williams, seeded second in this tournament behind her younger sister, will play Alla Kudryavtseva in a second-round match Thursday.