Four seeds out at New Zealand tournament

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Top seeds Maria Sharapova and Yanina Wickmayer advanced but three seeded players were beaten Wednesday at the ASB Classic tennis tournament in New Zealand.

Sharapova, the No. 1 seed, overcame nine double faults in a 6-3, 7-5 second-round victory over Renata Voracova. Sharapova piled up eight service breaks in 11 Voracova service games but also dropped half of her 10 service games.

Wickmayer, seeded second as she defends her ASB Classic title, got past Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 with a pair of breaks in each the first and third sets.

But third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova dropped a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 decision to Peng Shuai while No. 8-seeded Sofia Arvidsson was beaten 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 by Greta Arn and No 9-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro fell 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 to Heather Wilson.

The tournament lost a fourth seed when No. 7 Elena Vesnina became ill and retired in the third set. She was trailing Simona Halep 2-6, 6-4, 4-0 when the match was stopped.

Also moving to the tournament quarterfinals with wins Wednesday were No. 4-seeded Julia Goerges, who defeated Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4, and Kateryna Bondarenko, who beat Anne Keothavong 7-5, 6-3.