Maria Sharapova wins
Maria Sharapova was struggling.
She had never played a match against another Russian across the net who bore a strong resemblance to her, physically and in style of play. Her usually reliable serve was getting broken.
Then it all clicked Friday, and last year’s runnerup at the Australian Open was through to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Elena Vesnina that was a lot harder than the score indicated.
Defending champion Serena Williams and top-ranked Justine Henin also advanced against opponents with similar games. Williams next faces 12th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova, while Henin puts her 31-match winning streak on the line against Taiwanese qualifier Hsieh Su-Wei.
But 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo, seeded 18th, fell 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Australian Casey Dellaqua, who had a year-end No. 78 ranking and earlier beat No. 15 Patty Schnyder.