[guide.chat] Serena williams and Maria sharapova

From: "Carol O'Connor" <missbossyboots33@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "guide chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:17:17 +0100
Serena Williams & Maria Sharapova into third round. 
Venue: All England Club, London
Date: 25 June - 8 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC HD Channel, red button, BBC Radio 5 
live, mobiles, tablet and the BBC Sport website
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova booked their place in the Wimbledon third 
round with contrasting victories at the All England Club. 
Four-time Wimbledon champion Williams brushed aside Melinda Czink 6-1 6-4 in 
under an hour on Centre Court. 
Resuming 7-6 3-1 after bad light stop play, top seed Sharapova lost a second 
set tie-break before easing home 6-0. 
Williams on equal pay and flowers
Sharapova faces Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh in the next round while sixth seed 
Williams takes on China's Zheng Jie. 
French Open champion Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam on the grass 
courts of Wimbledon in 2004, was in the ascendancy against her Bulgarian 
opponent when bad light stopped play on Wednesday evening. 
On resumption, the Russian, 25, started the more tentative of the two players, 
as Pironkova broke back and then battled on to win the second set tie-break and 
level the match. 
But Sharapova regrouped and stepped it up in the final set, breaking her 
opponent three times to win the set to love. 
"It's always difficult to stop a match, especially when you have the momentum," 
said Sharapova. "I wanted to start strong but it didn't happen. 
Image of Tracy Austin Tracy Austin BBC Sport 
"Sharapova had 30 unforced errors today, but very few in the last few games, 
and that's critical for her. I'm a huge fan of Sharapova. I have so much 
respect for the way she carries herself. She is the highest-paid female athlete 
on the planet and yet her work-rate is still off the charts." 
"I started with no motor whatsoever. I was just on pause but I guess it's more 
important how you finish. 
"She loves playing on grass and came out firing. I just couldn't get much 
rhythm but I tried to focus on my game. 
"I felt like everything was a little bit slow. I wasn't moving up to the ball. 
She hit a few short balls. I made errors. I let her play. I didn't feel like 
there was enough pace on my ball. But I'm happy I really stepped it up in that 
third set." 
Williams, who last won this tournament in 2010, had a much smoother ride in her 
second-round match against the Hungarian qualifier Czink. 
The 30-year-old American blitzed the first set 6-1 in 20 minutes and, though 
Czink put up more of a fight in the second, Williams never left second gear to 
set up a tie against 2008 Wimbledon semi-finalist Zheng who beat Aleksandra 
Wozniak 6-4 6-2. 
Fast fact. 
Serena Williams won 37 of 44 points while serving, including 27 of 28 on first 
serves, and never faced a break point. 
"As the tournament goes on, you tend to play a little better," said Williams, 
who conceded just seven points on her own serve. 
"It was great to be back on Centre Court. It's amazing and I served really 
well. 
"Serving wise it was definitely better, more consistent. So it's something to 
be happy about. 
"I feel really good physically, but I'm just always wanting to be so perfect 
that sometimes I want to do too much. That's something I'm still working on." 
Second seed Victoria Azarenka, who reached the semi-finals last year, coasted 
into the third round with a 6-2 6-0 victory over Switzerland's Romina Oprandi. 
The Belarusian will now face either Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues or Jana 
Cepelova of Slovakia in the third round. 
Ninth seed Marion Bartoli, who lost to Venus Williams in the 2007 Wimbledon 
final and won the title in Eastbourne last year, lost her second round match 
against Mirjana Lucic of Croatia. 
Lucic, who as a 17-year-old was the lowest-ranked player ever to reach a Grand 
Slam semi-final back at Wimbledon 1999, beat the Frenchwoman 6-4 6-3. 
Elsewhere, eighth seed Angelique Kerber beat Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-3 to set 
up a third-round tie with Christina McHale, the 28th seed, who defeated 
Mathilde Johansson 7-5 7-5. 
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic beat Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3 7-6 
(7-3) to set up a meeting German 22nd seed Julia Goerges. 
Later in the day, Williams teamed up with sister Venus to thrash Vesna Dolonc 
and Olga Savchuk 6-0 6-3 in the women's doubles first round.
[guide.chat] Serena williams and Maria sharapova

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