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Sharapova crashes out of Roland Garros before quarterfinals (updated with quotes)

Xinhua, June 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova's title defending campaign has been snapped here on Monday after beaten in straight sets by Lucie Safarova in the French Open tennis tournament.

The four-time Grand Slam winner lost 7-6(3), 6-4 in the fourth round to grant the 13th-seeded Czech the very first quarterfinal berth of her career at Roland Garros.

It will be the first time since 2011 that the French Open final won't feature the 28-year-old Russian, who's the champion in 2012 and 2014 and runner-up to Serena Williams in 2013.

Safarova, who is just two and a half months elder than Sharapova, raced to a 6-1 lead in the first-set tiebreaker before winning it 7-3, and broke in the second game of the second set when Sarapova double-faulted on break point.

The second-ranked Russian broke back in the fifth game when Safarova also double-faulted on break point.

Both of the duo held serve to the 10th game before Sharapova saved a first match point but failed to force another mistake from the world No. 13 Czech who wrapped up a surprising victory.

"I felt like I had small openings, and I just wasn't able to play a good few points. I just wasn't able to keep that level up today," Sharapova told a post-match press conference.

The former world No. 1 played down a bad influence of the illness she caught before the French Open swept off, saying she's not willing to talk too much about it.

"I don't think it really makes a difference. I'm still a competitor no matter what," she said. "I'm going to do everything in order to go out and give it my best, and I think I did the best I could. Today it wasn't enough, because my opponent had a different gear than I did."

As for Safarova, a 28-year-old earning her first chance in the quarterfinals here, Sharapova sang high praise of her progress.

"She's really picked up her level. I think she's much more consistent off of both wings. She's playing really aggressive. I think she has a little bit more time on clay, allows her to use those lefty angles a little bit more. And she's done that extremely well," she said. Enditem