Maria Sharapova won her third round match over Lisa Raymond 6-4 6-0 on Sunday.
Sharapova won the first set 6-4. It was on serve at 3-3 when the number 3 seed broke the unseeded player. Then the 18 year old held on to her serve to go up 5-3. Raymond held serve to stay in the set but then Maria served out the set.
The second set was all Sharapova winning 6-0 and so after 70 minutes the match ended.
Maria will now play twenty first seed Shahar Peer in the fourth round. Peer beat Daniilidou 4-6 7-6 7-5 in her third round match. The two have met once with Maria winning in Beijing last year in three sets.
Sharapova Debut: Russia Wins 4-1
Maria Sharapova beat Tzipi Obziler 6-0 6-4 to even the tie at 1 with Israel. Sharapova didn’t drop a game taking the first set with ease.
The Russia jumped out to a 5-1 in the second set. The Israeli gave the crowd hope when she fought back in the set to make it 5-4. The 3 time Grandslam winner then took the next game to win the set and match.
The match lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Sharapova said even though the crowd was against her, it was something she reveled in.
“I love it… It actually gives me energy, as an athlete this is what I play for it drives me to do better,” the 20-year-old said.
Sharapova will now play Shahar Peer. Peer gave the host country a 1-0 lead with her victory 0-6 6-2 6-2 over Dinara Safina earlier in the day.
Sharapova Set To Make Debut
Maria Sharapova won the Australian Open now she hopes to help Russia defend their Fed Cup title. This will be Sharapova’s debut in Fed Cup and her first trip to Israel but she said there will be no sight seeing because she is focusing on the matches. The tie is this weekend.
The strong Russian team also has seventh-ranked Anna Chakvetadze, No. 16 Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina.
While the underdog Israeli team has seventeenth ranked Shahar Peer, Tzipi Obziler, Keren Shlomo and Julia Glushko.
“I think all of us here look forward to that challenge,” Sharapova said, seated alongside Chakvetadze.
Sharapova has been followed by all the Israeli paparazzi and one local report asked if she had a boyfriend.
“I don’t want to talk about my personal life,” she said. “But I do have a dog, named Dolce.”