Who Will Join Sharapova In Aus Third Round?

Maria Sharapova survived a scare to progress through to the third round of the Australian Open with her main tournament rivals, Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep all to play their second round matches in the coming days.

Ranked number two in the world, 27-year-old Sharapova was playing fellow Russian Alexandra Panova off the back of her comprehensive straight sets victory over Petra Martic of Croatia (6-4, 6-1). Despite claiming the opening set 6-1, Sharapova buckled against her fellow countrywoman, ranked 148 places beneath her, to lose the second set 6-4.

The five-time Grand Slam winner then had to hold on through two match points at 5-1 but managed to grab the set and the match 7-5 by winning six of the last seven games in stunning style.

On Friday, the 2008 champion will look to secure a less nerve-wracking victory as she takes on Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Diyas has dropped the first set in both of her previous encounters against Urszula Radwanska (6-3) and Anna Schmiedova (6-3) but claimed the following two sets 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2, 8-6 respectively to equal her best ever finish in the competition. The 21-year-old is 16/1 with ladbrokes to lose the first set but win the match for the third time in as many games.

Sharapova is the 1/12 favourite with most bookmakers to find herself in the fourth round of the tournament whilst Diyas is best priced 7/1 with both bet365 and Betvictor.

Ladbrokes have 10/3 on the Russian being forced into playing a third set once again. Strong tournament favourite Serena Williams will hope to join Sharapova in round three by seeing off another Russian in Vera Zvonareva on Thursday.

Williams beat Belgian youngster Alison Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-4 and looks good for the win against the former world number two and two-time competition semi-finalist. The US star can be backed at 1/10 with sportingbet to grab the win whilst 8/1 with most bookies says that Zvonareva can cause the American an early upset.

The reason for Williams` strong backing is that the 33-year-old has a 7-2 head-to-head record against the 30-year-old currently ranked outside the top 200. Five of these nine matches took place on a hard court surface with Williams getting the better of her opponent on three of these occasions.

Of Zvonareva`s two hard court successes against the world number one, her 2004 San Diego quarter-final victory over Williams was only declared after the Michigan-born star withdrew from the competition.

Two of the younger Williams sibling`s wins on hard came in straight sets and she is 1/3 with sportingbet to continue this trend.

The pair last met in the 2012 London Olympics. Played out on grass, Williams made light work of her rival, subjecting her to a 6-0, 6-1 humiliation on her way to winning the gold medal at the tournament. This would be her third Olympic gold medal of her career.

Elsewhere, Simon Halep will take to the court with Jarmila Gajdosova later today to try and secure her passage through to the third round. Romanian Halep is 1/8 (32red, Sportingbet) to steal the win whilst Gajdosova of Slovakia is a 6/1 shout with most bookmakers.

World number three Halep will be looking to avenge her countrywoman Alexandra Dulgheru who lost at the hands of the S27-year-old Slovakian in the first stage of the competition. Finally, Petra Kvitova plays out her second round clash against Mona Barthel of Germany tomorrow. The Czech player, a two-time Grand Slam winner, has faced Barthel on two previous occasions, putting her to the sword both times. She is 1/12 (Numerous) to continue her dominance over the German whilst an upset can be backed at 8/1 with bet365, betway and boylesports.

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21/01/2015     © Frixo 2024