Hard luck: Defending French Open champion Maria Sharapova rues bad day

Maria Sharapova rued a "bad day at the office" as her French Open title defence came to an abrupt end in the fourth round against Lucie Safarova.
After reaching the last three finals at Roland Garros, reigning champion Sharapova was expected to ease into the last eight on Monday, but Safarova raised her game to win 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
Sharapova's attempts to fight back in both sets proved futile, her Czech opponent executing some superb forehand winners to seal the quarter-final berth.
"I felt like I had small openings and play a few good points, I just wasn"t able to keep that level up today," said Sharapova.
""She [Safarova] was able to do it for longer period of time, she was much more aggressive player, she took the time away from me, created her angles and I didn't and that was the difference today.
"It was just a tough day and a match that I lost, my opponent was at a much higher level more than consistently than I was, and that results in a bad day at the office.
"I did the best I could today but my opponent had different gear than I did. This year my preparation started a little later, I got into the groove a little bit later.
"But I will get back to the basics, that's the most important thing, and by the time Wimbledon comes around I know I'll be ready."
Safarova, reaching her second grand-slam quarter-final, said: "I knew Maria is an amazing player and I needed to play aggressive and come forward," she said. "I'm so happy, it's amazing. It was a nice match today."