Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Wuhan Open by Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the third round on Wednesday.

Petra Kvitova, third seed, outlasted her Czech compatriot Karolina Pliskova, who grabbed the Seoul Open title and reached final at Hong Kong, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to survive the tournament as no more than four seeded players remain here out of the top 16.

Fourth seeded Sharapova double-faulted six times in the first set, and was twice a break up in the second set, but the Swiss just geared up and sealed the deal.

In the match the pair went toe-to-toe from the baseline with their big groundies, Bacsinszky was just a little bit more consistent overall, putting together a three differential of winners to unforced errors (25 to 22) while Sharapova compiled a negative differential of minus six (37 to 43).

Bacsinszky, who earned the biggest win of her career with a win over the Russian, had two previous top-10 wins, the last in 2010, but both were by retirement.

"From the beginning of the match when I set up the point well and I made those few unforced errors, I know in my mind, if my opponent was doing that, I'd have a little bit more confidence to get another ball back and just to be a bit more patient and maybe end up winning the point somehow," said Sharapova, who became the latest favorite to fall at the tournament after Serena Williams and Simona Halep out as well.

"I think she (Bacsinszky) found that confidence from early on. And she's also a player that's played a lot of matches in the last couple of weeks, and I definitely felt that. You know, she was in really good match form. When I had those few little chances, I didn't take opportunities," added the Russian.

A day after advancing at the expense of an ill Williams, Alize Cornet of France reached the quarterfinals by defeating Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-3. The Italian led 3-1 in the last set, but Cornet won the next five games in a row.

No. seven seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany eased past Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1, and set up a quarterfinal against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who received a walkover when Garbine Muguruza of Spain couldn't compete due to gastroenteritis.

Caroline Garcia of France beat America's CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2.