Sharapova loses in Paris

Maria is out of Roland Garros after she lost 7-6 6-7 2-6 to #13 seed Dinara Safina of Russia in the 4th round in 2 hours and 52 minutes.

The 1st set took 68 minutes as both players didn't give much away.  There were no breaks in the first 6 games and then in the 7th game Maria broke Safina's serve when she hit a winner after a long rally.  Safina didn't give Maria much time to get comfortable as she broke Maria back in the next game.  The next 4 games were hold of serve and a tie-break would decide this set.  The tie-break was close and Safina had 2 set-points but Maria managed to take it 8-6 when Safina hit a shot just out.

There was a rain delay at 0-1 15-30 and when the players came back, Maria went down 2-0 but came back to level the set 2-2 when she hit a powerful forehand return winner.  Maria's level started to get better and better as she managed to break Safina to lead 4-2 when she hit a backhand winner and Maria then held her serve to lead 5-2.  Safina came back to take the next 3 games to level the set 5-5, the next 2 games were holds of serve to force another tie-break.  Maria took a 5-2 lead in the tie-break but lost 5 straight points as Safina won it when Maria hits a backhand out.

Maria broke in the 1st game of the final set when Safina hit a volley long.  The set was level at 2-2 when Safina took 4 straight games to take the set and the match.