Tennis: Sharapova overcomes Melbourne heat

MELBOURNE - Serena Williams cruised through the second round of the Australian Open yesterday, while Maria Sharapova struggled against Lindsay Lee-Waters and the heat before winning 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Williams lost only seven points in the second set in a 6-3, 6-0 win over Dally Randriantefy, of Madagascar.

The seventh-seeded Williams did not drop a point on serve in the second set until the final game when she made two unforced errors. She set up match point with a curling forehand winner and ended the match in 48 minutes with her sixth ace.

"I definitely tried to step my game up," said Williams, who hit 38 winners and only 18 unforced errors.

"My form is definitely getting better and better with each match."

Williams will play 18-year-old Sania Mirza, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Petra Mandula, in the next round.

Mirza, playing in her first major, is the first Indian woman to make the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Sharapova, a 17-year-old Russian star who beat Williams in the last Wimbledon final, needed six match points to beat Lee-Waters.

She had two in the eighth game of the deciding set and three on serve before Lee-Waters hit a forehand long to end the match in one hour and 47 minutes.

Sharapova, so desperate to finish the match quickly that she switched hands to play a scrambling forehand from the leftside two points from the end, raised both arms in the air after the win.

She committed 44 unforced errors, mostly in the first set, and looked exhausted.

The temperature rose to almost 35C at Melbourne Park, and Sharapova needed to run a bag of ice over her neck and shoulders between games.

US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of Russia's two other major holders, needed just 40 minutes to beat Marion Bartoli, of France, 6-2, 6-0.

Her only scare came when she nearly did the splits while needlessly chasing down Bartoli's forehand on her first match point. She followed with her seventh ace to finish the victory.

One Russian hope went out and another remained in contention when ninth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, with 11 double-faults, lost 3-6, 3-6 to compatriot Vera Douchevina.

Second-ranked Amelie Mauresmo, the Olympic silver medallist and runner-up here in 1999, overcame poor serving in the first set and reeled off the last 10 consecutive games in a 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over 18-year-old Dinara Safina.

On the men's side, French Open champion Gaston Gaudio overcame Olympic silver medallist Mardy Fish 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), and Belgium's Olivier Rochus had a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win over Gael Monfils, an 18-year-old Frenchman who won three of the four junior majors last season.

Tommy Robredo, seeded 13th, advanced, while 16th-seeded Tommy Haas was upset 7-5, 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6 by Slovakia's Karol Beck.

Beck said he deliberately played drop shots to work Haas around when he noticed his German rival cramping in the heat.

* Leanne Baker's time at the Open was shortlived after the Waikato player and her Italian doubles partner were defeated in the first round 4-6, 5-7 by 16th seeds Eleni Daniilidou, of Greece, and Australian Nicole Pratt.

- REUTERS