Kuznetsova celebrates after beating Sharapova in the semi-finals. (AP)

Indian Wells: Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek could not capitalise on a good start and went down to third- seeded Chinese duo of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in a three-set thriller in the women’s doubles semi-final of the Pacific Life Open here.

The see-saw encounter saw the seventh-seeded Mirza-Mattek go one up before the Chinese pair rallied to win 6-7 (4), 7-5, 10-4 via tie-break.

In the final, the Chinese pair will meet the Russians Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina, who defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova’s perfect start to the year came to a shuddering halt when she lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to fellow-Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals on Friday.

Australian Open champion Sharapova, who had won her first 18 matches of the season, was outplayed when it counted by the second seed in a fluctuating match lasting two hours, 19 minutes.

Kuznetsova will face top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in Sunday’s final, the Serb having beaten compatriot Jelena Jankovic 7-6, 6-3 later on Friday.