Maria Sharapova hit the first speedbump in her injury comeback Thursday when she was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Hungarian veteran Greta Arn in the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic tennis tournament.
The formerly top-ranked Russian, a three-time Grand Slam champion, struggled to find her best game in her first tournament since last October's China Open and finally met a player in Arn, 31 years old and unseeded, who could fully exploit her hesitance.
Sharapova's serve was shaky in three matches this week - she particularly struggled with her ball toss in windy conditions - and showed a lack of patience and accuracy in rallies.
Her coach counseled her during her first and second-round matches to play through the middle of the court and to take her time to work her way into points but Sharapova usually looked for the quick winner.
She tried to hit the lines with her powerful forehand but, lacking matchplay, missed her usual accuracy and fell into errors.
She made 14 unforced errors in her first set against Arn on Thursday, dropping serve in the first and fifth games to lose the set in 30 minutes.
By the end of the match she had made 30 unforced errors, had three double faults and had hit only won clean winner. Still, she detained Arn for 61 minutes in the second set and showed grit, breaking back after losing serve in the first game.
She broke Arn in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead but immediately dropped her own serve and did so again, crucially, in the 11th game when, at breakpoint, she put a routine volley into the net.
''I'm like a little girl whose dream has come true,'' Arn said.
''If you ask a little girl what is your dream she would say to play Maria Sharapova.''
The contrast could not have been greater between Sharapova and No. 2 seed and defending champion Yanina Wickmayer who breezed through her quarterfinal against Simona Halep of Romania 6-0, 6-2 in 63 minutes.
Wickmayer won the first nine games and Halep allowed herself a fist pump when she held serve for the first time in the fourth game of the second set. She delayed Wickmayer's victory momentarily by breaking serve in the seventh game of the set then gave up the set and match with a double fault at matchpoint.
Wickmayer's semifinal opponent will be Peng Shuai of China who won her quarterfinal 6-4, 7-5 over British qualifier Heather Watson.
Peng was fully stretched by the 18-year-old Guernsey native, a hard-hitting baseliner, and took 49 minutes to win the first set with a single service break.
The second set, stretching to 65 minutes, was closer and brought out the fighting qualities of both players. Peng had a service break to lead 4-3 but Watson fought back to level in a thrilling 10th game.
Watson won the first three points of the game but Peng saved four break points and held a matchpoint before the Briton leveled at 5-5.
Peng immediately broke back and saved a further two breakpoints in the 12th game before taking the match on her second matchpoint.
''Before the game I was really nervous, I got so tight and I started to push the ball,'' Peng said. ''She's a very good player because I was running a lot.''
