Sharapova slumps to Peng

China 's Peng Shuai delighted the local support by sending former world number one Maria Sharapova out in the third round of the China Open. The Russian, who is steadily climbing back up the rankings following last year's shoulder surgery, claimed her first title of the year in Tokyo last week.

However, she was unable to muster the reserves to fend off the determined Peng, who cruised into the last eight with a 6-2 6-4 success. Sharapova had been forced to come from 5-2 down in the final set of her second round match on Tuesday but there was no fightback this time.

"I've had matches where I didn't feel like I was maybe at the level that I wanted to be but I was able to fight through that and get through it, and today was just not one of those days, unfortunately," Sharapova said. Things will not get any easier for the winner, though, as she will take on either Serena Williams or Nadia Petrova for a place in the semi-finals.

The victory over Sharapova was her second in succession against a high-profile opponent, coming 24 hours after knocking out defending champion Jelena Jankovic. There was better news for Sharapova's compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, who overcame the loss of the second set to storm through 6-3 4-6 6-0 against Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine .

The sixth seed will next face another Russian in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who followed up her success against top seed Dinara Safina by brushing aside Canadian teenager Alexandra Wozniak 6-4 6-4.