AUCKLAND: ASB Classic's defending champion Yanina Wickmayer has underlined her status as the most likely challenger to Maria Sharapova.

The Belgian defeated former world No 1 Dinara Safina yesterday in a three-set, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 smash-a-thon. She plays on centre court again today against German qualifier Sabine Lisicki, who will provide another stern test of Wickmayer's credentials, having reached a career high ranking of 22, after making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2009.

Safina and Wickmayer provided the best action of the tournament so far, with the modus operandi of both players tending towards the "hit it hard and hit it early" theory.

It was a brut a l draw — Belgian Wickmayer is world No 23 but should be higher and Safina is No 63 and will soon be much higher — but it did guarantee great first-round entertainment for the sell-out crowd.

"I played really well. We both played at a high level. It was a good way to start the year," Wickmayer told the New Zealand Herald.

The second set, which Safina won in a tiebreaker, was arguably the best women's tennis seen on these courts.

"I can't say I lost that set because I played bad. The service game I lost at the end, she (Safina) played three unbelievable winners."

Meanwhile, Peng Shuai of China rallied to stun two-time Grand Slam-winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round this morning.

Peng, ranked 71, dropped the first set in 30 minutes before fighting back tenaciously to win the second and recovering from a 0-3 deficit in the third to take the match in 2¼ hours.

Peng had played third-seeded Kuznetsova, a former US Open and French Open champion, on three previous occasions and lost each time. Peng will face the winner of a later match between Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro and Heather Watson of Britain.

In a later match, Sharapova struggled to serve in windy conditions before beating Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5. Sharapova will play either Germany's Greta Arn or Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson in the next round.

PETALING JAYA: National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Zolkples Embong was dumbfounded over the "sacking" of karate coach P. Arivalagan.

"I'm waiting for Malaysia Karate Federation's (Makaf) report over this matter," he said. "I've not been told about this formally and have only learnt about this after reading the newspapers."

Meanwhile, former national exponent R. Puvaneswaran, who was supposed to be Arivalagan's assistant, revealed the initial plan was to rope in the services of an Iranian to help the team out. Now it looks like Arivalagan will be replaced by the yet-to-be named Iranian coach instead.

The short-sighted decision by the Makaf could backfire as the national exponents are now threatening to leave the national stable. They are now hoping Makaf, through their president Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, will see into the fiasco, widely described as a "politically motivated execution".

Puvaneswaran will join several current internationals as they face Rustam tomorrow morning in Malacca. "All the current exponents will boycott the national set-up if Arivalagan is dropped. Most of us were his students at Hayashi- Ha Karate-Do before joining the national camp.

"We hope NSC will step in and defuse the situation as karate is one of Malaysia's key sports in Asia," said Puvaneswaran.

Puvaneswaran is having second thoughts to be part of Makaf no thanks to the current predicament. It was under Arivalagan that Puvaneswaran started his karate career.

He bowed out by winning the Men's Under 55kg Kumite event at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou last month. The athletes were shocked and angry with the decision.

"They didn't expect it at all. We have a sense of loyalty and our support is with Arivalagan.

"I have no interest in becoming a coach if he (Arivalagan) is not around. He has always been my mentor and I was looking forward to learning my strides as a coach under him.

"This is to show my gratitude to my coach. No doubt the pay will be good but that is not enough. I need to be happy," he added.

Under Arivalagan, Malaysia bounced back from the low of failing to win a gold medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games to finishing with two gold medals in Guangzhou.

Malaysia also finished as overall champions in the last two Sea Games in Thailand (2007) and Laos (2009) with total haul of 13 gold medals.