Sharapova out of ASB Classic

AUCKLAND (Reuters) - Top seed Maria Sharapova’s flirtation with the New Zealand public came to a premature end on Thursday with a surprising 6-2 7-5 loss to unseeded Hungarian Greta Arn in the quarter-finals of the Auckland Classic.

The three-times grand slam winner, who had chosen to warm up for the Australian Open by entering the Auckland tournament rather than her normal schedule of playing exhibition matches, struggled with her rhythm in the swirling wind on Thursday.

She was broken twice in the first set by the 31-year-old Arn and made numerous unforced errors in the second to crash out in a match lasting 91 minutes.

“I started off really slow, got down two breaks and I think she gained a tremendous amount of confidence from that,” Sharapova told reporters. “I had my chances in the second (set), but I didn’t play the same way I had played to get there.

“Obviously I would have loved to play a few more here and be the winner. But that’s the way it goes. You look forward to the next one.

“That’s the good thing about tennis.”

Arn will now meet fourth-seeded German Julia Goerges who beat Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 5-7 6-2 6-2 in the last quarter-final that was played in the final evening session of the tournament.

Sharapova’s presence had helped effectively sell-out the tournament by the first day and her defeat disappointed those hoping for a final against champion and second seed Yanina Wickmayer.

Wickmayer had earlier made sure of her place in the semi-finals when she beat Romania’s Simona Halep 6-0 6-2 in a little over an hour in the first match on centre court and set up a showdown with China’s Peng Shuai, who beat British qualifier Heather Watson 6-4 7-5.

“I feel very happy, this is the first week of the year and I’m really happy to be playing well,” said Wickmayer, who extended her unbeaten run in Auckland to eight matches. “I’m in the semis so I guess this tournament is lucky for me.”

Roddick, Soderling advance at Brisbane

BRISBANE, Australia (AP)—Second-seeded Andy Roddick beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Brisbane International.

The eighth-ranked American hit seven aces and converted 65 percent of his first serve points to beat the 20th-ranked Baghdatis.

Baghdatis managed to hold serve only once in the opening set. In the second, his big shots matched Roddick until the eighth game, when the American broke at love. Also, Kevin Anderson of South Africa rallied to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four.

Earlier, top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden held on to beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7) and reach the quarterfinals

Soderling saved both break points he faced against the left-handed Berrer.