Indian Wells (USA), Mar 19: Ailing with wrist pain, Sania Mirza has faltered against defending champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in their pre-quarterfinal match at the USD 2,100,000 Pacific Life Open WTA championships here.

After a miserable first set, Sania tried to put up some resistance in the second set, stretching it to a tie-breaker but lost 6-1 7-6 (7/4) to the fifth seeded Slovak on Tuesday.

Sania was rendered helpless in the first set as Hantuchova saved all eight break points. It looked like a similar story in the second set as well as Sania was trailing 0-5 the but the Indian rallied to level scores 5-5 and made it 6-5 but Hantuchova snatched her lead back and the match went into tie-breaker.

Hantuchova will meet former champion Maria Sharapova of Russia in the quarterfinals.

Sania, seeded 21st, said she played in pain as her recurrent wrist injury had flared up.

Sania Mirza is worried over her recurrent wrist injury as it could either result in a surgery or require her to change her grip and action, an idea she is not keen on at this stage of her career.

Sania, who played in pain before losing out to Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the Pacific Life Open pre-quarters here on Tuesday, said she would try to avoid surgery but was also not keen on changing the way she grips the racket at the crucial stage in her career.

"Right now it's very, very painful... I couldn't move my wrist," she said after her 1-6, 6-7 (4/7) loss.

"Usually it doesn't get this sore, so I'm a little worried right now. It gets sore and then it gets OK when I ice it and do whatever I have to do," she told reporters.

Sania, seeking MRI to diagnose the actual problem, said she would look for some other options to cure it.

"It's a big step to even change it 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."

Sania had suffered the injury after US Open Grand Slam last year which had also forced her to withdraw from her home WTA event.

Hantuchova said she was expecting a tough match against Sania but felt great to win without losing a set.

"I thought it was a great match. Sania is a great hitter. I was expecting really a tough one, and just being able to be in the quarters without losing a set feels really great."