Maria loses to Mauresmo at the WTA Championships

Maria is out of the WTA Championships after she lost (6-7 3-6) to Amelie Mauresmo of France in the semis.

Sharapova appeared listless against Mauresmo, falling to 4-7 in semifinals this year. The 18-year-old Russian hasn't reached a final since June when she won a Wimbledon warmup at Birmingham.

She has been bothered by a strained right chest muscle since August, and it hurt during the match.

"I couldn't serve very big, especially in the second set," she said. "That's not very good when you're playing a top player in the semifinals. Without the injury, I felt like I was in control and that still gives me a lot of confidence for next year."

She broke Mauresmo to open the match, then double-faulted away the tiebreaker after committing five forehand errors.

"At 5-2 down, I felt I could still come back," Mauresmo said. "I only had one bad game on my own service. I didn't know she got injured. Maybe that's why she didn't manage to put her first serves in on big moments."

Sharapova saved one match point and held trailing 5-3, then led 30-love in the next game. But she made four consecutive errors to end the match, sending a backhand wide on the final point.

"The tiebreaker was just a big giveaway and from there it was downhill," she said.