Sharapova glides into round three

Russians comeback run continues

The 22-year-old Russian took less than an hour to dispatch her opponent, in contrast with a two-and-a-half-hour first-round encounter on Monday that ended with Sharapova nursing her shoulder with ice in a news conference.

Before Monday, Sharapova had not played singles since last August because of a shoulder injury, although she made a brief return to competition in the doubles at Indian Wells in March, losing in the first round.

There were early exits for third-seeded Zheng Jie and number five Sara Errani.
Chinese Jie was overpowered by Klara Zakopalova of the Czech republic 6-0, 6-4 while Errani, from Italy, also went out in straight sets to Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-4, 6-3.
There were no such problems from sixth-seeded Slova Daniela Hantuchova, a convincing 6-3, 6-1 victory over Urszula Radwanska of Poland.

Sweden on course

Holders Sweden stayed on track for a World Team Cup title defence in Duesseldorf on Tuesday, building up an unassailable 2-0 lead against the United States.

Sweden, who also beat France 2-1 in the Red group, grabbed the lead when Andreas Vinciguerra made a mockery of being ranked 599 places behind Robby Ginepri and downed the American 7-5, 6-4 after trailing 5-2 in the first set.

Robin Soderling dropped only four games as he eased past Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 to eliminate the Americans from the running for the title as they had also lost to Germany.

Germany's Rainer Schuettler beat world number seven Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4 to give the hosts a 1-0 lead over France.

In the Blue group, Serbia also took an unassailable 2-0 lead against Russia after Janko Tipsarevic swept past teenager Stanislav Vovk 6-2, 6-4 and Victor Troicki crushed Evgeny Korolev 6-2, 6-2.
Argentina, beaten by Serbia on Monday, grabbed a 1-0 lead over Italy. World number five Juan Martin del Potro swept past Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4.

Somdev advances

Keeping the Indian challenge alive, Somdev Devvarman edged past Joao Souza in a gruelling encounter to advance to the second round of the qualifying event of the French Open, adds PTI from Paris.

Seeded 26, India’s numero uno player recorded a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over his Brazilian opponent in a skill-testing two-hour, 27-minute claycourt battle on Tuesday night.

Somdev raced away with the first set in just 29 minutes  but a determined Souza was not in mood to surrender.

Somdev will next face Briton Alex Bogdanovic, who defeated American Ryler Deheart 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Agencies