Sharapova loses again at WTA Championships

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Sharapova loses again at WTA Championships

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Maria Sharapova lost her second straight match at WTA Championships, a 7-6 (4), 6-4 defeat to Li Na.

27 October,2011 02:44 am

The result leaves Sharapova on the brink of elimination from the season-ending tournament, but she still has a slim chance of advancing to the semifinals if she wins her final round-robin match against Victoria Azarenka.Azarenka maintained her perfect record against Sam Stosur with a 6-2, 6-2 win earlier Wednesday.Sharapova led 4-2 in the first set before Li broke back to force the tiebreaker, where the Russian let a 4-0 lead slip away. Li then took a 5-2 lead in the second and served out the match on her second attempt.Li, the French Open champion, is the first Chinese player to qualify for the season-ending event for the worlds top eight players.Stosur, the U.S. Open champion, was coming off her first ever win over Sharapova on Tuesday but appeared flat as she came out for Wednesdays opening match.In her first match in the White Group, the fourth-seeded Azarenka broke four times to take her head-to-head record against Stosur to 5-0.I didnt play aggressive enough ... I dont feel like I did anything, Stosur said. I just kind of got pushed around the court, and eventually was made to make an error or she would hit a winner.The Australian said her performance wasnt affected by the late match against Sharapova the previous evening.Oh, I cant blame that, she said. Yeah, it was a quick turnaround, but I felt like I was ready to go.