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Sharapova avoids a stumble in Paris

Maria Sharapova hits a backhand © PA Photos

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Maria Sharapova breezed into the quarter-finals of the Open GDF Suez with a comfortable victory over Chanelle Scheepers on Wednesday.

Sharapova, the top seed at the event in Paris, was made to work by her opponent in the opening set but, after making her advantage count, immediately opened a lead in the second set before romping away with a 6-3 6-1 success.

I had a few problems finding my rhythm at the start," said Sharapova.

"The court is pretty quick. But I really like these conditions and once I'd got my bearings, it went better."

Sixth seed Julia Goerges soon followed her into the next round, winning her second round encounter with Petra Cetkovska 6-1 6-4.

Cetkovska upped her game against the German in the second set, but was ultimately let down by a number of double faults as she missed out on an opportunity to send the match to a deciding set.

Prior to that, American duo Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Christina McHale both progressed to round two unscathed. Mattek-Sands, who came through qualifying to reach the main draw, saw off fellow qualifier Kristina Barrois 7-6(3) 6-2, while Fed Cup hero McHale defeated compatriot Vavara Lepchenko 6-4 7-5.

Next up for Mattek-Sands is Italian Roberta Vinci, a 6-4 6-4 winner against Simona Halep. While Halep fell at the first hurdle, her fellow Romanian Monica Niculescu progressed to the second round with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 win over Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova .

Home hope Alize Cornet came up short against Klara Zakopalova, falling 6-3 6-1 to the Czech. Zakopalova will face Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round, the Bulgarian profiting from Li Na's withdrawal with a back injury on Tuesday.

Meanwhile at the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand, top seed Vera Zvonareva progressed to the quarter-finals with a straight-sets win over Akgul Amanmuradova. The Russian won 60 per cent of points on her opponent's second serve, claiming five breaks on her way to a 6-3 6-3 victory. Next up for Zvonareva is Romania's Sorana Cirstea, who saw off Japan's Misaki Doi 6-2 6-2.

Fourth seed Maria Kirilenko had to dig deep to beat Anastasia Rodionova 2-6 6-3 7-6(3) to set up a quarter-final clash against home favourite Tamarine Tanasugarn, a 7-6(7) 6-3 winner against qualifier Chang Kai-Chen.

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