Wednesday, 23 May, 2007

Maria Sharapova eased into the third round of the Istanbul Cup on Tuesday with a straight-sets win over Tvetsana Pironkova.

The top seed from Russia received a bye in the first round of the tournament, but quickly fell into her stride with a 6-4 7-6 (7/1) success over Bulgarian Pironkova.

Sharapova will now face either Polish seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Romina Oprandi of Italy in the next round.

That was the only second-round match to be played on Tuesday, but there were a host of first-round ties including third seed Patty Schnyder, who overcame Yung-Jan Chan 6-1 6-1.

Fourth seed Venus Williams was another convincing winner in the opening round with a 6-1 6-2 success over Tatiana Poutchek, but Anna-Lena Groenefeld fell at the first hurdle, the sixth-seeded German slipping to a 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 defeat at the hands of Catalina Castano.

Eighth seed Sania Mirza was another early casualty after a 6-4 6-3 loss to Meghann Shaughnessy, while Vania King posted a 6-3 7-5 victory over Ipek Senoglu and Anastasija Sevastova eased to a 6-1 6-3 win against Anastasiya Yakimova.

Also on Tuesday, Ekaterina Dzehalevich saw off Anna Tatishvili, 6-3 7-5, and Ekaterina Afinogenova defeated Sandra Kloesel, 6-3 5-7 6-3.

Wimbledon serves up Hawk-Eye
Physio to work on Murray wrist
Doubts over Murray making Wimbledon
Davydenko eases into quarters
Federer to face Sampras
Blake guides USA to victory
Haas pulls out of French Open
Seeds tumble in Austria
Sharapova progresses in Istanbul
Bartoli too strong for Kriz