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sharapova out of Australian Open

Maria Sharapova followed top seed Serena Williams out of the Australian Open with a shock defeat by Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.

The Russian, who won the title in 2008, lost 3-6 6-4 6-1 in an erratic display on Rod Laver Arena. Five-time champion Williams was beaten by Ana Ivanovic 24 hours earlier, leaving two-time champion Victoria Azarenka – the second seed – as the player with the most major titles in the draw. Sharapova left the court for a medical timeout before the final set, and finished with a total of 45 unforced errors as Cibulkova closed it out in two hours and 12 minutes.

Cibulkova, 24, moves on to face Jelena Jankovic or Simona Halep in her first Australian Open quarter-final, the third time she has reached the last eight of a Grand Slam.

Sharapova had played an epic second-round match on Thursday against Karin Knapp that lasted three-and-a-half hours in temperatures of around 40C. bbc.com