Maria Sharapova got off to a flying start at the LA Championships on Monday, beating Slovakia’s Jarmila Groth 6-0, 6-4 in the first round despite losing her way at times in a competitive second set.
Sharapova was joined in the second round by 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, a 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 victor over US player Varvara Lepchenko, while Russian Anna Chakvetadze upset 11th seed Virginie Razzano of France 7-6, 6-3.
Still working to strengthen her serve following shoulder surgery last year, three-times Grand Slam champion Sharapova was at times inconsistent in the second set, but more lethal off the ground.
“Her game plan was to attack from every single angle she could,” said Sharapova, who lost in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic last week to Venus Williams. “But she wasn’t able to do that consistently because I was able to retrieve and make her hit more balls.”
After the aggressive Slovakian broke Sharapova to 3-2 in the second set, the Russian pushed on again to break back at 3-3 when Groth erred on a forehand and then fought off three break points to hold to 4-3.
Sharapova then went on to win the match, breaking Groth to love to win the match with a vicious forehand return down the line.
Sharapova will face third seed Victoria Azarenka in the second round.
Czech Lucie Safarova took down 15th seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 7-6 and the US’ Jill Craybas took down 16th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6, 6-2.
France’s Marion Bartoli, who beat Venus to win the Stanford title on Sunday, pulled out of the tournament with a calf injury.
■LEGG MASON CLASSIC
AP AND AFP, WASHINGTON
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Donald Young on Monday.
Hewitt, who won this tournament in 2004, is playing in Washington for the first time in three years. He will next face 15th-seeded Dudi Sela of Israel, who received a first-round bye.
The former world No. 1 Hewitt won three of five break opportunities in each set to beat the 20-year-old American.
Young battled Hewitt through the first set that featured five service breaks before Hewitt held serve in the deciding game. Hewitt then took the final three games of the second set for the win.
“We both seemed to return serve pretty well out there,” Hewitt said. “We both didn’t serve great, either, so that made life for the returner easier.”
Hewitt had not played since losing to Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
“It’s always hard after a few weeks off,” Hewitt said. “It’s nice to get through in straight sets.”
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun rallied to eliminate US wild card Michael Russell 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 and booked a second-round date yesterday with defending champion and second seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Defending champion Del Potro is the No. 2 seed.
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat the US’ Robert Kendrick 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 and will play fifth-seeded Robin Soderling in the second round.
Qualifier Somdev Devvarman of India advanced to the second round with a 6-0, 7-6 (6) win against Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.
Germany’s Philipp Petzschner won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Teimuraz Gabashvili of Georgia, and Canada’s Frank Dancevic advanced by beating Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-3.
Marc Gicquel of France won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, Alejandro Falla advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over American Jesse Witten, John Isner of the US defeated Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 7-6 (8), 6-3 and Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 7-6 (1), 6-4.
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