KEY POINTS:
Injury-hit local favourite Marina Erakovic departed the ASB Classic tennis tournament today, beaten by top-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva in straight sets.
The Aucklander was the rank outsider before stepping on court against the world No 4 in a second-round clash in her hometown tournament, but abdominal and neck injuries made her job that much harder.
She needed an extended medical break to get courtside treatment after holding serve at 3-4 down in the second set.
She went on to save two match points on her next service game, but couldn't stop Dementieva closing out a 6-2 6-3 victory on a day when five of the eight seeds were eliminated.
Erakovic said she was carrying an abdominal strain and then woke up this morning with a stiff neck.
The problems affected her serving ability, as was born out by statistics that show she managed to get just 43 per cent of her first serves in.
But Erakovic didn't use the injuries as an excuse, saying Dementieva, the Olympic champion and two-time Grand Slam finalist, was the type of the player who gave an opponent little margin for error.
"She's very steady and she's always set up for the ball very well," she said.
"She moves very well around the court. When she needs to bring out the power, she does. When she has to play a smart shot, she does. She's all-round very good."
Erakovic said the injuries were unlikely to keep her out of next week's tournament in Hobart, her final build-up before the Australian Open.
After her impressive run to the semifinals as a wildcard in the Classic last January, she had plenty of ranking points to defend this week.
So an early exit means the 20-year-old's ranking will drop from its present 69, but not enough to threaten her entry in the main draw of the Australian Open.
Dementieva's victory sets up a quarterfinal clash with fifth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer tomorrow.
She said playing Erakovic had been difficult because of the amount of support her opponent got from the crowd.
"It was a very emotional match," she said.
"I think we had a good fight in the first set and I played a little better than yesterday and this is what I need, just to improve and keep playing better tennis in every round."
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki also made it through to the last eight, the Dane beating American veteran Jill Craybas 6-4 7-5 to set up a meeting with Russian Elena Vesnina.
But there was a rash of upsets elsewhere in the draw, with the biggest being fourth-seeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak's 7-5 6-2 defeat to Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita.
Third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain also went out 3-6 6-2 7-5 at the han ds of Romanian Edina Gallovits.
The other seeds to depart were Czech Nicole Vaidisova (sixth), Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (seventh) and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro (eighth).
Pavlyuchenkova, 17, the tournament's youngest player, was beaten 6-2 6-3 by Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, last year's runner-up.
- NZPA
