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BEIJING (AP) -- Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the China Open on Wednesday, losing to Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-4.

Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the quarterfinals by defeating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

Peng broke Sharapova twice in the first set, and again in the sixth game of the second. Sharapova saved two match points at 5-4 before losing to the 53rd-ranked player.

The former top-ranked Russian appeared to show the strain of her three-set win over Victoria Azarenka the night before.

Maybe they ought to just stop messing around and have the women's tennis players at Wimbledon compete in bikinis. When did women's tennis become beach volleyball, anyway?

I missed it. But the evidence keeps pouring in. And in the past few days, we've seen Svetlana Kuznetsova (right), the French Open champ, complain that she wasn't placed on Centre Court while some young unknown women were. Even more strange, she thought, was No. 1 Dinara Safina playing on an outer court.

"Of course it's not fair," Safina said. "But, I mean, I'm not doing the schedule."

Turns out, Wimbledon officials say success alone doesn't earn women a spot on Centre Court, a court of honor. Wimbledon wants the best-looking women out there.

EASTBOURNE, England (AP)-French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova lost in the first round of the grass-court tournament at Eastbourne on Tuesday, falling 6-0, 6-3 to Aleksandra Wozniack of Canada.

"It's really tough for me," the second-seeded Kuznetsova said. "I played for two months on clay and I have it almost in my blood.

"On this surface, everything is opposite. For me, it's too much to change in three days."

Why am I such a chicken?

That's what Dinara Safina said. This was her crowning moment. And, oh man, did women's tennis need this. It needs a star desperately. And Safina needed a big win desperately, as she is No. 1 without a major title. That's No. 1 with an asterisk.

But here she was in the final of the French Open Saturday, and instead of a grand moment for Safina and for women's tennis, it just turned into something that turned your stomach.

In the end, Safina lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2. And yes, I said that in the right order. The story of the match is that Safina lost, not that Kuznetsova won.

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PARIS (AP) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova conquered her nerves and beat a shaky Dinara Safina to win the French Open.

Showing uncharacteristic calm, Kuznetsova earned her second Grand Slam title Saturday by defeating Safina 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Russian matchup. Jitters have often betrayed Kuznetsova down the stretch in big matches, but she swept the final four games with steady play.

Tennis is a funny game. One minute you're up against match point, with your tournament hopes hanging by a thread, and then a few points later you're suddenly running away the momentum.

This was the case for two of the ladies in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. After winning the first set, Svetlana Kuznetsova was serving for the match against Serena Williams, but Serena broke the Russian at 4-5 to even the second set, and basically stole all of Kuznetsova's mojo. Then, despite some hot Aussie weather, Serena stayed focused and sweated her way to a second-set win and an absolute clobbering in the third set to win the match, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.