Third-seeded Maria Sharapova battled to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Elena Vesnina on Sunday to book her fourth-round berth at the Miami ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament. Sharapova, who won the title last week at Indian Wells, will take on Czech Klara Zakopalova for a quarter-final berth on Monday.
The Russian star has never won the Miami title, although she's reached the final four times. Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters are the only women to win both Indian Wells and Miami in the same year - Graf in 1994 and 1996 and Clijsters in 2005. In hot, humid, windy weather, Vesnina started strong, breaking Sharapova to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set.
Sharapova responded by winning 11 of the next 14 games to secure a straight-sets victory. "Isn't it amazing what happens when you're down? You just switch on," Sharapova said with smile. "I think it was a matter of patience. From the warm-up the conditions are not great. You're facing an opponent that is very capable of playing good tennis.
"Maybe her ranking is not where she wants it to be right now, but she's beaten me before. "In situations like this where it's tough and it's hot, it kind of levels out the game a little bit as well ... you have to be a bit more patient. That was really important today."
In the late women's matches, Ana Ivanovic, of Serbia, surprised Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-3 and eighth seeded Sara Errani, of Italy, steamrolled Simona Halep 6-1, 6-0. In other women's matches, Romania's Soran Cirstea upset sixth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-0, and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, a former world No 1, ousted 11th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.