BEIJING (AP) — Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the China Open on Wednesday, losing to Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-4.
Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the quarterfinals by defeating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
Peng broke Sharapova twice in the first set, and again in the sixth game of the second. Sharapova saved two match points at 5-4 before losing to the 53rd-ranked player.
The former top-ranked Russian appeared to show the strain of her three-set win over Victoria Azarenka the night before.
"I've had matches where I didn't feel like I was maybe at the level that I wanted to be," said Sharapova, ranked 15th. "But I was able to fight through that and get through it, and today was just not one of those days, unfortunately."
Kuznetsova will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4, 6-4. Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia routed Li Na of China 6-2, 6-0.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia advanced in the men's field, easily beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-0. Davydenko will face Marin Cilic of Croatia, who defeated Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
Second-seeded Novak Djokovic trounced Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Serbian match, while Fernando Verdasco defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-4 in an all-Spanish match.
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