Maria Sharapova crushes Sania

Sania Mirza's dream run at the Acura Classic came to an end after she lost in straight sets to top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Twenty-year-old Sania was looking to continue her giant killing act as she faced Sharapova in the quarterfinals, but the defending champion came out in an aggressive frame of mind.

The second ranked player in the world broke India's tennis sensation in the opening game of the match.

Sania though had the confidence of having beaten five top 25 players in the last two weeks and she fought back with her favourite weapon - her forehand.

However, the 20-year-old's weakness, namely her serve, came back to haunt her, as Sharapova made full use of Sania's many second serves to race to a 5-1 lead.

Sania, who had lost to Sharapova the last time the two played, managed to produce some winners. But they were too few as Sharapova wrapped up the opening set 6-2 in 28 minutes.

Amazing record

Sharapova, who has an amazing 9-1 record at the Acura Classic, started the second set in similar fashion, even though Sania tried her level best to match up with some awkward shots.

But the power of Sharapova, who is looking to win her first title this year, was too tough for the Hyderabad hurricane to deal with, as she failed to hold serve even once in the second set.

Sania though did manage to win one game as she broke Sharapova in the fifth game, but only to lose her serve to love immediately after.

The US Open champion wrapped up the match in just over an hour after winning point number 60 compared to just 35 for Sania.

Sharapova won 6-2, 6-1 to exactly match the scoreline from their last encounter at the 2005 US Open.

For Mirza, it's the end to a great run which should help her break into the top 30 on Monday, while for the 20-year-old Russian, it's a chance to get back into form before heading to Flushing Meadows.