Sharapova cruises through in Memphis

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 13:06

The 22-year-old Russian, who was eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open last month, advanced with a thumping 6-0 6-2 victory over American Shenay Perry.

Third seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia also progressed with the minimum fuss, overcoming Holland’s Arantxa Rus 6-0 6-4.

Anne Keothavong of Great Britain caused an upset by ousting Kristina Barrois, the sixth seed from Germany, 6-1 6-3.

The British number three will next face Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito, who saw off American qualifier Madison Brengle 6-3 6-3.

Two other qualifiers fared better, however, as Canada’s Valerie Tetreault defeated Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-4 and Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson beat Poland’s Marta Domachowska 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Holland’s Michaella Krajicek and Croatian wild card Ajla Tomljanovic also advanced with victories over German Julia Schruff and Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova respectively.

In the ATP Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, Czech third seed Radek Stepanek was made to work hard for his place in round two but eventually saw off South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 7-5 4-6 6-4.

Elsewhere, unseeded German Philipp Petzschner came from a set down to eliminate American Taylor Dent 1-6 6-3 6-4 while sixth seed John Isner got the better of fellow American Ryan Harrison 6-1 7-5.

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