Third seed Maria Sharapova was dumped out of the Australian Open on Monday with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 fourth round loss to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Rod Laver Arena.The 2008 champion had to take a medical time-out between the second and third sets for treatment on an undisclosed injury. She was grimacing when bending over and grabbing her lower back during the final set.Sharapova's demise comes a day after Serbia's Ana Ivanovic beat world number one and title favourite Serena Williams, also in the fourth round."I watched that match, it was a great match for Ana, but this was a little bit of a different story," Cibulkova said in a courtside interview."The most important thing was that I went on the court and I was 100 percent sure I could win this match. I wasn't doubting myself."Sharapova took the first set 6-3 as both players struggled with their serve, but Cibulkova won the second after racing to a 5-0 lead, which the Russian pegged back, before the diminutive Slovak finally held serve to send the match to a decider.Sharapova then took the medical time-out but was unable to halt Cibulkova's momentum as the Slovak raced through to win the set and reach her first Australian Open quarter-final.She will meet either eighth-seed Jelena Jankovic or 11th-seeded Romanian Simona Halep for a place in the last four."I just kept going. I knew what I had to do and I was doing exactly the right things," Cibulkova added."The most important thing is to believe in yourself."(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING