Maria Sharapova advances to 3rd round of Madrid Open
Maria Sharapova beat Mariana Duque-Marino 6-1, 6-2 to reach third round of the Madrid Open.
MADRID (AP) - Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round of the Madrid Open by beating Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.
The third-seeded Russian and defending champion broke Duque-Marino s serve four times while saving three break points on her own serve.
"She is someone who, if you give her time, creates angles, slices and usually drop-shots a lot more than she did in this match because she has the hands and the ability to do so," Sharapova said.
Sharapova s next opponent will be Caroline Garcia of France, who beat the 14th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic also advanced, beating Coco Vandeweghe of the United States 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
Also, Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic beat Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-4, 6-2, and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.
Azarenka next faces top-seeded Serena Williams.
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, seeded-seventh, beat Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia rallied in a hard-fought second set to beat Sara Errani of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4.
In the men s tournament, fifth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada served nine aces and broke Argentine player Juan Monaco s serve twice to win 6-3, 6-4.
Raonic is enjoying a career-high ATP ranking at No. 6 and arrived in Madrid after reaching the quarterfinals or better in nine of his last 12 Masters tournaments.
Also, 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria advanced after Donald Young of the United States had to retire from the match because of injury.
The 25-year-old Young received treatment for back pain while trailing 6-4, 3-0 and was unable to resume play.
Dimitrov will next face Fabio Fognini of Italy.
Nick Kyrgios of Australia reached the second round by beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-2, 6-3.
Kyrgios was beaten in the final of the Estoril Open two days ago by Richard Gasquet, and also lost his status as ATP s highest-ranked teenager because he turned 20 that day.
Fernando Verdasco, who lives in Madrid, beat fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Argentina s Leonardo Mayer beat Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-3 and Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain advanced to the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Marius Copil.
Also advancing were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Alberto Ramos-Vinolas.
Jack Socks of the United States will meet Tsonga in the second round after beating Spain s Pablo Andujar 6-4, 7-5.
On the practice courts, second-seeded Andy Murray could be seen getting used to the ball s bounce in Madrid s altitude and warm, dry conditions a day after clinching his first career clay court title in at a cold and damp Munich Open.
