Melbourne: Second seed Maria Sharapova flirted with disaster yesterday as rising stars Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Romania’s Simona Halep strolled into the Australian Open third round.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova of Russia survived two match points after wilting in the Melbourne Park heat, while third seed Halep and Bouchard, seeded seven, shrugged off the gruelling conditions for easy wins.
Sharapova 27, entered the tournament in sizzling form talking about seizing the world number one ranking off top seed Serena Williams, who plays her second-round match today.
But she was lucky to survive 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 against the gutsy Alexandra Panova, who refused to be intimidated and took the fight to her illustrious fellow Russian.
Sharapova, who has a history of struggling in the Australian heat, faded in the second set, appearing red-faced and flustered.
She was hurtling towards the brink at 4-1 in the third before her renowned fighting qualities finally kicked in.
The reigning French Open champion clawed her way back and fended off two match points, taking five consecutive games to seal the victory.
“I was one point away from being out of this tournament twice today and not playing my best tennis, so I’m just happy I was able to win that last point,” she said. “I pulled through, I guess at this point that’s what matters,
However, her shaky performance – which included a whopping 51 unforced errors and six double faults – is unlikely to have her rivals quaking in their boots.
Sharapova faces Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, the world number 31, in the third round.
Bouchard, who is on track to met Sharapova in the quarter-finals, demolished Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-0, 6-3 in the most one-sided display so far this year at Melbourne Park.
Cheered on by the “Eugenie Army”, the 20-year-old tore into Bertens in the first set, then eased off slightly in the second to allow the world number 72 on the scoreboard.
“I lost my focus a little bit and that’s really unacceptable, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again and make it quicker for you guys,” she joked.
Bouchard faces world number 36 Caroline Garcia of France in the third round, an assignment she said would be “super tough” against an opponent who beat her in their only previous meeting.
Halep was in no mood to hang around after taking to centre court against Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova just before midnight following a marathon men’s match involving Rafael Nadal.
The tenacious 23-year-old wrapped it up 6-2, 6-2 in no-nonsense fashion as she looks to improve on her quarter-final appearance in Melbourne last year. “It was a tough match, the score didn’t show this but she’s a strong player,” Halep said.
“I was concentrating on every point and really wanted to win this match.”
Elsewhere, 10th seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia comfortably overcame Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-4 and Italy’s Sara Errani, seeded 14, wore down Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka, who eliminated fifth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the first round, advanced with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Slovenia’s Polona Hercog.AFP
