Defending champion Maria Sharapova served 13 double faults against fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and costing her the No. 1 ranking at the Pacific Life Open on Tuesday.
Andy Roddick, the lone American left in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Richard Gasquet of France. Roddick's game was particularly sharp in the second set, with his serves, groundstrokes and volleys all clicking.
Roddick finished the match with a 133 mph serve down the center stripe for his 15th ace.
Sharapova was beaten in the fourth round and needed to reach the semifinals to remain No. 1. She will be supplanted by Justine Henin when the rankings are updated on Monday. Henin, who was not at this tournament, won two recent events in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Daniela Hantuchova repeated her 2002 final victory over Martina Hingis, this time winning 6-4, 6-3.
In men's play, second-seeded Rafael Nadal routed former No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-1.
Sharapova served for the match at 6-4, 5-4 but won only a point.
"After that I just deflated a little bit," Sharapova said.
Zvonareva won the last four games of the second set, and the first four of the third set. Sharapova broke Zvonareva to end the streak but lost her next service game by delivering two double faults, bouncing her second serve into the net on one of them.
Moments later, Zvonareva clinched a berth in the quarterfinals with her third win against Sharapova in seven matches.
Asked about the problems with her serves, Sharapova said, "Yeah, there were a lot of wrong things going on today. That was just one of them, especially in the third set. But it was more of a snowball effect than anything else."
Sharapova was under pressure in her third event this year. After reaching the final in Melbourne, she strained a hamstring in the semifinals of the Tokyo Indoors event more than a month ago.
Hantuchova, whose sole title was here five years ago, handed third-seeded Hingis her earliest defeat at Indian Wells in seven visits. Hingis, who won on debut in 1998, also came up one win short of passing US$20 million (euro15 million) in career earnings, and joining Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova in that elite group.
Fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova retired with heat illness while trailing 6-2, 1-0 against Tatiana Golovin, leaving the Frenchwoman to meet Austria's Sybille Bammer, who defeated Serbia's Ana Ivanovic 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-3.
Li Na of China eliminated seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 7-6 (1). The Serb took only two of 14 break chances, while Li claimed all three of hers, and breezed through the tiebreaker.
Andy Roddick, the lone American left in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Richard Gasquet of France. Roddick's game was particularly sharp in the second set, with his serves, groundstrokes and volleys all clicking.
Roddick finished the match with a 133 mph serve down the center stripe for his 15th ace.
Sharapova was beaten in the fourth round and needed to reach the semifinals to remain No. 1. She will be supplanted by Justine Henin when the rankings are updated on Monday. Henin, who was not at this tournament, won two recent events in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Daniela Hantuchova repeated her 2002 final victory over Martina Hingis, this time winning 6-4, 6-3.
In men's play, second-seeded Rafael Nadal routed former No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-1.
Sharapova served for the match at 6-4, 5-4 but won only a point.
"After that I just deflated a little bit," Sharapova said.
Zvonareva won the last four games of the second set, and the first four of the third set. Sharapova broke Zvonareva to end the streak but lost her next service game by delivering two double faults, bouncing her second serve into the net on one of them.
Moments later, Zvonareva clinched a berth in the quarterfinals with her third win against Sharapova in seven matches.
Asked about the problems with her serves, Sharapova said, "Yeah, there were a lot of wrong things going on today. That was just one of them, especially in the third set. But it was more of a snowball effect than anything else."
Sharapova was under pressure in her third event this year. After reaching the final in Melbourne, she strained a hamstring in the semifinals of the Tokyo Indoors event more than a month ago.
Hantuchova, whose sole title was here five years ago, handed third-seeded Hingis her earliest defeat at Indian Wells in seven visits. Hingis, who won on debut in 1998, also came up one win short of passing US$20 million (euro15 million) in career earnings, and joining Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova in that elite group.
Fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova retired with heat illness while trailing 6-2, 1-0 against Tatiana Golovin, leaving the Frenchwoman to meet Austria's Sybille Bammer, who defeated Serbia's Ana Ivanovic 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-3.
Li Na of China eliminated seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 7-6 (1). The Serb took only two of 14 break chances, while Li claimed all three of hers, and breezed through the tiebreaker.
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