Azarenka, Sharapova breeze into third round

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Madrid: Top seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova breezed past Czech opponents into the Madrid Open third round on Tuesday along with former world No 1 Serena Williams.

Azarenka dispatched Andrea Hlavackova 6-3, 7-6, Sharapova saw off Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-3 and Williams, seeded nine and making her first European appearance of the season, thumped unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1.

Serena eased through a day after her sister Venus was knocked out by Germany's Angelique Kerber.

Sharapova, who beat world No 1 Azarenka in the Stuttgart final last month, was first up on the unfamiliar blue clay of the Manolo Santana show court.

The colour is a controversial innovation at this year's edition of the event and has prompted complaints from Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and others.

With the sliding roof closed to keep off the morning drizzle, second-seeded Russian Sharapova found her range and broke Zakopalova's serve in the opening game.

The three-times grand-slam singles champion wobbled when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second set but broke again in the next game for a comfortable win.

Sharapova next meets another Czech, unseeded Lucie Safarova, who beat Spanish wild card Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-4.

Sharapova said the blue clay was a little more slippery than its red counterpart but added that she generally approved of the decision to switch colours, which organisers argue makes it easier to follow the yellow balls on television.

"I did feel a bit of a difference with the amount of clay that is on the court and the bounces were a bit off, especially the first couple of days of practice, but I feel like it's got better and settled in a little bit," she told a news conference.

"You just have to work on your balance a bit more," added the 25-year-old world No 2, who will be chasing the only grand slam that has eluded her at the French Open starting later this month.
 
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