Saturday, May 28, 2011

Maria Sharapova


Maria Sharapova
Seventh seed Maria Sharapova, who narrowly avoided humiliation in the last round, comfortably reached the French Open last 16 on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Taiwan qualifier Chan Yung-Jan.

The Russian will face Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the 12th seed, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Sharapova had recovered from a set and 1-4 down to defeat French 17-year-old, and world 188, Caroline Garcia in three sets to reach the last 32 on Thursday.

But there was no drama on Saturday with the former world number one and triple Grand Slam title winner strolling to her third victory in three meetings with the 129-ranked Chan.

Sharapova, dressed in lemon, raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set, courtesy of two breaks, and took the opener 6-2, aided by the 21-year-old Chan's five double faults.

Another break in the fifth game allowed her to stretch her advantage to 3-2, before Chan surprsingly hit back for 3-3.

It was a brief respite as Sharapova demolished the Taiwanese serve again before another hold for 5-3.

A wild smash from Chan, who had never previously made it out of the first round in Paris, sealed the win for Sharapova in the next game.

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