• French Open

Sharapova eases into French Open second round

Maria Sharapova will play Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round at Roland Garros © AP

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Maria Sharapova made light work of French Open first round opponent Ksenia Pervak, despite a short rain delay at Roland Garros.

Play was suspended for around an hour on Monday morning due to miserable weather in Paris, but Sharapova did not let the delay affect her she cruised into round two with a 6-1 6-2 victory against her Russian compatriot.

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The 2012 champion proved too much for Pervak as she cruised into a 4-1 lead in the opening set before closing out to take first blood.

Seventh seed Sharapova continued to dominate in the second with a double break of serve and secured victory in just over an hour on court.

She will now face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova for a place in round three.

But all the talk after the match was on a possible quarter-final clash against reigning champion Serena Williams. "It's tough to think about that match down the line where you have to compete in three more matches before that," Sharapova said.

"Obviously many people look forward to matches where we play each other. But in many ways it doesn't matter if it's the fourth round, quarters, semis or final. There is only one champion at any tournament. So it's not really about when you face somebody. It's about who comes through. Right now it's not my concern."

Ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova progressed with a 7-5 6-0 victory against home favourite Virginie Razzano. Sabine Lisicki was untroubled as the German won through 6-1 7-5 against Fiona Ferro.

Elsewhere, there were also wins for 12th seed Flavia Pennetta, Mona Barthel, Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard and Sam Stosur.

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