Tennis: Sharapova crashes out of ASB Classic

Maria Sharapova leaves the ASB Tennis Centre after her loss. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Tennis superstar Maria Sharapova crashed out of the ASB Classic in Auckland today, losing in straight sets to unheralded Hungarian Greta Arn.

The tournament's big drawcard, and the main reason all the day sessions this week have been sold out, lost the quarterfinal clash 6-2 7-5.

Sharapova, the top seed and world No 18, struggled to find her rhythm from the start.

She dropped her first service game and another break tilted the first set firmly in Arn's favour.

Sharapova continued to be hampered by unforced errors as both players struggled to hold serve in the second set.

At 5-5, the Russian again dropped her serve, giving Arn the chance to close out the match.

Sharapova was philosophical at the premature end to her first visit to New Zealand.

"Obviously I would have loved to play a few more here and be the winner," she said.

"But that's the way it goes. You look forward to the next one. That's the good thing about tennis."

She conceded she had started "really slowly", and that had given Arn confidence.

Then, when she had chances in the second set, she couldn't capitalise fully.

Sharapova, 23, changed her early season schedule this year from exhibition matches to tournament play.

She said her fortunes on court hadn't put her off Auckland and she would be happy to return.

"Just because I lost doesn't take anything away from the tournament for me," she said.

"I would love to come back, absolutely."

The 31-year-old Arn, the world no 88, rated the win as the biggest of her career.

She said she had felt composed during the 90-minute encounter until the final game, when she began shaking.

"I started to think, oh my god, I can beat Maria Sharapova."

Arn had arrived in Auckland to play in the qualifying event, but withdrawals meant she got direct entry into the main draw.

Earlier, defending champion Janina Wickmayer made it safely through to the last four by beating unseeded Romanian Simon Halep 6-0 6-2.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, the 19-year-old Halep did get plenty of opportunites, twice having Wickmayer 0-40 down on serve but unable to convert.

In all, Wickmayer, through a combination of good shotmaking and her opponent's unforced errors, was able to save eight of the nine break points against her.

The No 2 seeded Belgian was happy with her performance in what were windy conditions.

"I can't really say that the times I got to 0-40 was because I played bad or because I made sutpid mistakes," she said.

"It was really windy out there so it was tough to serve. I made a couple of double faults, but she played well on those points too."

She was also pleased to have come through some testing situations.

"It's good for me to be saving those break points," she said.

"That means I'm mentally strong and I'm mentally ready."

In the semifinals, Wickmayer will face unseeded Chinese player Shuai Peng, who beat teenage British qualifier Heather Watson 6-4 7-5.

- NZPA