Maria Sharapova battles into round three

Maria Sharapova has reached the third round of the Miami Masters with a hard-fought 6-3 6-4 win over Kurumi Nara of Japan.

Although the Russian prevailed in straight sets, her opponent made her work for the victory, returning a lot of balls and testing Sharapova in both sets.

The game was evenly matched in the opening stages, but the world number seven asserted her authority with a break at 3-3 in the first set, and kept Nara at bay for the remainder of the contest.

Sharapova will take on Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in round three.

Written by
Mark Langshaw