• Madrid Open

Sharapova marches on in Madrid

Maria Sharapova fired five aces during her victory © Getty Images

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Madrid Open seedings

Maria Sharapova survived a minor wobble to book her place in the third round of the Madrid Open.

The eighth seed, who makes her season debut on the clay in Spain, won the opening set but was soon pegged back by Ekaterina Makarova as the world No. 39 forced the match to a decider.

However, any fears of an upset were swiftly put to bed as Sharapova raced through the final set to clinch a 6-3 3-6 6-1 victory.

Sharapova, who has needed three sets in both her opening matches at the Caja Magica, will now meet Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, who was the first woman into the third round after she was gifted a walkover by Hungary's Agnes Szavay.

Vera Zvonareva recovered from a sluggish start as she booked her place in the second round with victory over fellow Russian Elena Vesnina. Second seed Zvonareva was bagelled in the opening set, but that served as a wake-up call as she rallied to claim a 0-6 6-3 6-3 victory.

Also through to the third round is fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, who made light work of Swedish qualifier Sofia Arvidsson, storming to a 6-1 6-1 victory in just 45 minutes.

Roberta Vinci continued her impressive run of form in Spain with a first-round victory over Olga Govortsova. Vinci, who clinched the title in Barcelona on Saturday, eased to a 6-4 6-0 win to set up a second-round clash with Russia's Alisa Kleybanova who stunned ninth seed Shahar Peer 6-3 6-2.

Sixth seed Na Li safely navigated her way into the second round against the tricky clay-court specialist Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Four aces helped the Australian Open finalist on her way to a 6-4 7-6(6) victory.

Also through to round two are Lucie Safarova and Iveta Benesova.

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