Tennis

Sharapova hurries into third round

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-29 09:37

Number two seed Maria Sharapova hurried through the second round at Wimbledon on Thursday with a 6-0 6-3 victory over France's Severine Bremond.

Sharapova said afterwards that her injured shoulder, which kept her out of action for two months earlier this season, was "holding up."

Asked if it would last the full two weeks of the tournament," she said "I don't know, we'll see. I'll tell you when I am done playing here."

Bremond, 35 places behind the stylish Russian in the world rankings, looked headed for an embarrassing whitewash in a one-sided first set.

"I played a really solid first set and it was really hard with the conditions because the wind was swirling," Sharapova told reporters.

The French player, who was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, put up a brief fight in the second set.

Sharapova, who won Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 2004, never looked seriously troubled, however and earned a third-round tie against Japan's Ai Sugiyama.

But she did get a shock playing Centre Court without its roof.

Reflecting on the first stage of the court's renovation which will eventually provide a retractable cover in case of rain, she said: "It's like someone took the torch from the Statue of Liberty. It's like they took the Arc from the Arc de Triomphe.

"It's my favourite court to play on but it's definitely so weird the atmosphere. It's missing that little touch, missing that something that I think all the players love to see."