Sharapova, who dropped only five games in her first-round win over Stephanie Foretz, was odds-on for another simple victory against an opponent she defeated 6-1 6-4 at last year's French Open.

But this year's Australian Open winner never got into her stride and was unable to cope with Kudryavtseva's powerful groundstrokes.

The pressure led to Sharapova collecting a total of 22 unforced errors and eight double faults.

Kudryavtseva started the match well, holding her serve twice while forcing Sharapova to save a break point in her second service game.

The breakthrough came in the sixth game, Sharapova double faulting three times to help give Kudryavtseva the break.

Kudryavtseva broke again in the eighth to seal the first set in just 32 minutes.

There was a hint of nerves from Kudryavtseva at the start of the second set as she double faulted three times to lose serve from 40-15 ahead.

But Sharapova could not take advantage of the slip, losing serve in the fourth and sixth games, the second break coming with a wonderful Kudryavtseva forehand winner.

Sharapova did battle back to 4-4 but she double faulted again when serving at 4-5 down with the score poised at 40-40 and Kudryavtseva sealed the famous victory with another crunching forehand to the corner.

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