Last year's semifinalist Jie Zheng of China loves the surface and could figure again.
China's Jie Zheng, who was the first Asian player to reach at grand slam semifinal at Wimbledon in 2008, progressed to the semifinals in Birmingham after beating Italian fourth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3 5-7 6-4.
She had 13 aces and 30-40 unreturnable serves against Zheng Jie in the semi-final.
Last year's runner-up, Li Na, beat fellow Chinese player Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-1.
Top-seeded Petrova hit seven aces in beating Zheng Jie of China 6-2 6-3 in the third round in Florida.
Meanwhile, Zheng Jie became the first Chinese player to make the last eight of the Australian Open by beating Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 7-6 6-4.
Meanwhile, up and coming Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru beat Chinese fifth seed Zheng Jie 6-3 6-4 to retain the title at the WTA event in Warsaw.
Home hopes will be carried into the next round by Zheng Jie and Li Na, who play Dinara Safina and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia respectively.
She overcame eight double-faults, the erroneous ruling and a second-set deficit to beat Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 in the third round Saturday at the French Open.
Also on Wednesday, Caroline Wozniacki's terrible 2013 continued when the number one seed was beaten in straight sets by China's Zheng Jie at the Brussels Open.
Henin will now face China's Zheng Jie who cruised into the last four with a straight sets - 6-1 6-3 - victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko.
Tennis courts have sprouted in major cities while academies are attracting youths who idolize super-stars like Roger Federer, Serena Williams and local standouts like Zheng Jie.
The Dane, now ranked 10th and a winner of the tournament in 2011, progressed with a 6-0 6-1 drubbing of China's former Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie.
Elsewhere, home favourite Sam Stosur crashed out after throwing away a 5-2 lead in the final set before losing 6-4 1-6 7-5 to China's Zheng Jie .
Seeds Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova, Agnes Szavay, Sybille Bammer and Aleksandra Wozniak also advanced, but Alize Cornet, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Ai Sugiyama and Sara Errani failed to progress.
Sharapova had not played since losing to China's Zheng Jie at Indian Wells and her lack of match practice after an elbow injury showed in a 6-4 6-3 defeat at Caja Magica.
Last year's U.S. Open finalist Wozniacki defeated China's Zheng Jie, a semifinalist at the Australian Open in January, 6-4 4-6 6-1 in a match lasting more than two hours later on Wednesday.
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Defending champion Sharapova rallied from 4-1 down in the second set against Zheng Jie to beat China's world No. 43 6-1 7-5 despite making 34 unforced errors in a match featuring 11 breaks of serve.
Ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur, who has spoken of her anxiety over playing in front of her home fans, served twice for the match but double-faulted on match point in a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss to China's Zheng Jie.
Former French Open winner Li Na overcame Chinese compatriot Zheng Jie 6-3 6-1 as she bounced back from her first-round defeat in Madrid, while there were also victories for Samantha Stosur, Maria Kirilenko and home favorite Roberta Vinci.
Later Tuesday, China's Zheng Jie -- the first female tennis play from the Asian giant to make it into the quarterfinals -- will face unseeded Maria Kirilenko, who put out former champion Maria Sharapova in the first round.
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