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Below-par Sharapova battles through

Maria Sharapova cut a relieved figure after her hard-fought victory © PA Photos

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• Profile: Kim Clijsters | Jelena Jankovic | Sabine Lisicki | Maria Sharapova | Sam Stosur | Yanina Wickmayer | Serena Williams | Caroline Wozniacki

Second seed Maria Sharapova recovered from a set down to battle into the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open, grinding out a 4-6 6-3 6-3 victory against Shahar Peer.

Sharapova, a three-time grand slam champion, saw her second serve get punished as peer edged a tight first set. However, Sharapova tightened things up in the second, only conceding two break points - of which none were converted - and her ferocious groundstrokes enabled her to dismantle her opponent's serve for the only break of the set.

In a third set short on quality, Peer's second serve then crumbled - she only won 9 per cent - and Sharapova pounced to seal a gutsy victory.

Serena Williams, seeded 10th, bulldozed her way past Shuai Zhang. Williams' first serve was a weapon throughout and, with her return game functioning well, she breezed to a dominant 6-2 6-3 victory in an hour and 20 minutes.

Twelfth seed Sabine Lisicki strolled through in similar fashion, coasting to a 6-3 6-2 success against Sofia Arvidsson, while fellow seeds Shuai Peng (17) and YaninaWickmayer (23) earned victories over Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Marina Erakovic respectively.

Sixth seed Sam Stosur made short work of Valeria Savinykh, winning through 6-4 6-4, while fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki despatched Barbora Zahlavova Strycov by the same margin.

Four-time grand slam champion Kim Clijsters swept aside the challenge of 14th seed Julia Goerges, who received a first-round bye along with the other 31 seeds 6-2 7-5. Both women struggled to hold serve, but it was Clijsters who converted more break-point opportunities - seven of 17 - to book a place in the next round. Another seed to tumble was Jelena Jankovic, the Serb falling 6-0 6-3 to Mona Barthel.

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