Sharapova out in Auckland

Top seed Maria Sharapova crashed out of the ASB Classic in Auckland with a 6-2 7-5 defeat to Greta Arn of Hungary.

The world number 18 struggled to gain any rhythm in the swirling wind and was broken twice in the first set by the 31-year-old from Budapest.

Numerous unforced errors in the second set saw the three-time Grand Slam winner slump to defeat in 91 minutes.

"I started off really slow, got down two breaks and I think she gained a tremendous amount of confidence from that," she said.

"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."

There were no such problems for second seed Yanina Wickmayer, who saw off Simona Halep on Romania 6-0 6-2 in just over an hour.

She will next play Peng Shuai after the Chinese number three ended the hopes of British qualifier Heather Watson - playing in her first WTA quarter-final - 6-4 7-5.

Both players had their chances to close out the match with teenager Watson breaking her opponent twice in each set, but Peng broke three times on both occasions to earn a semi-final spot after an hour and 53 minutes.

The second semi-final will see Julia Goerges of Germany take on Arn after the fourth seed overcame the loss of the first set against Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the final match, coming through 5-7 6-2 6-2.