Maria Sharapova maintained her perfect start to the season at the Qatar Open on Wednesday.
After winning the Australian Open last month, the fourth-seeded Sharapova defeated fellow Russian Galina Voskoboeva, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in the second round of the $2.5 million event.
Including her title at Melbourne and two Fed Cup wins in Russia's first-round tie with Israel earlier this month, Sharapova has now won all her 10 matches this season.
Runner-up to Sharapova at the Aussie open, top-seeded Ana Ivanovic also returned to action on Wednesday with a routine 6-3, 6-1 win over Olga Govortsova in one of 14 second-round matches. Her third round foe will be No. 16 Agnieszka Radwanska, who saw off Tathiana Garbin, 6-3, 6-3.Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova opened with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Nathalie Dechy of France.
The Russian, who was beaten in the final of this tournament last year by Justine Henin, will face No. 15 Sybille Bammer in the next round, after Bammer's 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Monica Niculescu.
Wednesday saw the first major upset of the tournament as No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze was sent home by Na Li, who battled to a 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 victory.
It also was tough day for ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder, who went down, 6-3, 6-4, to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Others advancing were 11th-seeded Dinara Safina, No. 12 Shahar Peer, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Ai Sugiyama.
The world No. 5 awaits the winner of No. 14 Amelie Mauresmo and Tamarine Tanasugarn.Labels: Australian Open, Galina Voskoboeva, maria, qatar, sharapova, tennis, tennis queen
