Sania Mirza hits a return to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova during their fourth round match at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells on Tuesday. (AFP)

Indian Wells: Sania Mirza, hampered by a painful wrist, lost in the pre-quarter finals of the $2,100,000 Pacific Life Open on Tuesday.

The Indian tried to put up a fight but went down to defending champion and fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

On the men’s side, Leander Paes and Paul Hanley of Australia lost in the quarter finals of the doubles event. The eighth seeds went down 2-6, 1-6 to third seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

Sania had eight break points in the first set but Hantuchova saved them all. The 21st seed was down 0-5 in the second but rallied back to 5-all and even went ahead 6-5. Hantuchova, however, held serve to force the set into the tie-breaker.

Sania said she played in pain as her wrist injury had flared up again. “It’s very, very painful. I don’t know how I was playing out there as the ball was just flying out because I couldn’t move my wrist.”

Sania had injured the wrist after the US Open last year.

She is hoping to be in shape for her doubles match after some treatment. “I still have a day. It could be fine by tomorrow morning… It depends on the day.”

She is, however, worried that the injury could either result in a surgery or force her to change her grip and action, something she is not keen on at this stage of her career.

Sania, wanting an MRI to diagnose the actual problem, said she would look for some other options.

“It’s a big step to even change it (her grip) half an inch because my game is my forehand. You know, it’s not easy to change a grip at the stage where you’re, like, 30 in the world. I would obviously like to look at other options before that.”

Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, took nearly three hours to subdue Alona Bondarenko in her fourth-round match on Tuesday. Sharapova outlasted Bondarenko 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 for her 17th consecutive win, while three-time champion Roger Federer took only 54 minutes to dispatch Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 6-1.

In night matches, top seed Ana Ivanovic downed Francesca Schiavone 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 and Lindsay Davenport beat Marion Bartoli 6-2, 7-5, while men’s No. 11 Andy Murray rallied past Croatia’s Ivo Karlovi 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 6-3 and Tommy Haas of Germany beat Fernando Verdasco of Spain, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.

Sharapova, whose streak includes triumphs in the Australian Open and at Doha, moved into quarter finals where she’ll play defending Hantuchova.

Federer’s fourth-round opponent will be Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who ousted Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-3, 6-4.

Seventh-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina was two points from defeat before beating Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (1), 0-6, 7-6 (6). He will next meet former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who saved two match points in ousting Mario Ancic 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6 (7).

Lleyton Hewitt, the champion in 2002 and 2003, downed Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-1 and will play for a quarterfinal spot against Mardy Fish of the US, who upset fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2.