The Australian Open will enter the women’s quarterfinals without its No. 1 and No. 3 seeds after Russian Maria Sharapova emulated Serena Williams’ fourth round capitulation and was eliminated from the tournament. In what would prove to be Sharapova’s last match at Melbourne Park for 2014, she was outmuscled and outmaneuvered, losing the match 6-3 4-6 1-6. It was deja vu for the Monday crowd at Rod Laver Arena as they witnessed a wounded seed surrender to their less favored opponent after winning the first set.

A smaller crowd initially rolled into Rod Laver Arena, for there were few expecting lightning to strike Melbourne Park again. And with Sharapova powering to take the first set in 39 minutes, there was little to suggest the crowd was mistaken. But the mood in the crowd changed as the match progressed with Cibulkova racing out to a 5-0 lead in the second set. Quite willing to allow Sharapova to tally up the unforced errors and buoyed by a high first-serve percentage, Cibulkova eventually served the set out to take it to a third.

Just as the crowd started to expect another epic on Rod Laver Arena, something seemed amiss with the Russian third seed. And this was confirmed when she called an injury time-out at the conclusion of the second set.

After the match, Sharapova confirmed what the crowd was thinking. “I have a bit of a strain the trainer told me in the hip area,” a tired-looking Russian revealed. But she was quick to avoid using the injury as an excuse. “Those aches and pains are expected when you spend a long time on the court. You just have to play through it.”

Despite playing a visibly restricted Sharapova in the third set, nothing is to be taken away from the diminutive Slovak, who took her chances and powered while making just four unforced errors. The opposite can be said of Sharapova who, after winning the first set, never looked comfortable, making a collective 34 unforced errors in the second and the third sets.

After the match, Cibulkova was justifiably ecstatic after achieving her best result at an Australian Open and credited it to her off-season. “Yeah, it feels this is what I'm really, really happy” a beaming Cibulkova said. “Finally I made it. I showed that I had great preseason in December and I could show it on the court, so it feels amazing”

After the first set, Sharapova appeared to struggle with the ball toss on her service game, something Cibulkova thought may have been exaggerated to distract the 20th seed. “When the match was coming to the end, I was getting a little bit angry about that,” she observed. “I kept [wondering] why is she doing that? I thought it was on purpose.”

When asked for reactions to the early exits of Williams and Sharapova, Cibulkova was just content with playing well. “I don't want to think about it,” said the Slovak. “I came here to play my best tennis. I love what I'm doing and I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, because I don't want to suffer (from pressure) on the court.”

While many hoped the next match would mirror the contest seen in the Sharapova-Cibulkova match, world No. 2 Victoria Azarenka entertained little consideration of this. Her overwhelming consistency and class completely outshone promising American Sloane Stephens in a match that lasted just over 90 minutes. It was business as usual for the Belarussian as she used her varying all court game to suffocate the 15th seed.

Stephens never got going in the 6-3 6-2 loss as she struggled with her timing and placement, racking up a plethora of unforced errors. In the first set, her racquet head speed was barely fast enough to generate any depth or pace on the ball, giving her opponent a good look at half-court balls with little kick. While Azarenka played a scratchy first set by her lofty standards, Stephens never looked like challenging the two-time defending champion, making 32 unforced errors to just 20 from the Belarusian.

With a game built on ruthless consistency, Azarenka won the points that mattered and was able to constantly challenge the Stephens serve. The statistics don’t particularly tell the story of the match, however. Azarenka earned 14 break points, breaking the American three times in the rout.

After the match, Azarenka acknowledged that she felt the game was closer than the score line showed. “I felt like it was competitive,” the 24-year-old said. “I just felt that I managed to pick it up on the important moments and really control the game.  Even though sometimes I missed a few shots, I felt like I was doing the right thing. I just wanted to apply that and keep working on that.”

Stephens admitted that not much had changed since the she received a similar thrashing from Azarenka at last year’s Australian Open.

“She's pretty steady,” Sloane remarked. “She's consistent mentally. Physically she's all in it. She's just a really tough competitor. I'm still working on things trying to get better. I thought I matched up pretty good with her today, hopefully work on a few more things and hopefully next time it will be the other way around.”