Rain washes out Birmingham play

Sharapova faces a tough match against Tamira Paszek

Rain washed out the fourth day of the DFS Classic in Birmingham, leaving players facing two matches on Friday.

Second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia starts on centre court, taking on Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the third round.

Top seed Maria Sharapova is scheduled to follow her on court in a tricky encounter against highly-rated Austrian 16-year-old Tamira Paszek.

Daniela Hantuchova, seeded three, faces Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, with the quarter-finals set for the afternoon.

Paszek, who has already knocked out British number one Anne Keothavong and 13th seed Meilen Tu this week, has risen more than 300 places to 55th in the world over the last 18 months.

"I have some experience this year against top-10 players," she said.

"I am not the kind of person who gets nervous before a match, I just go out there and try to play my game.

"Do I have a chance of beating Sharapova? Let's take it easy, she is an unbelievable player, number two in the world. I will just go out there and fight."