Sharapova charges past American at Melbourne

Jan 19, 2012, 3:04 GMT

Melbourne - The 2008 champion Maria Sharapova wasted no time in schooling American Jamie Hampton Thursday, laying down a 6-0, 6-1 win to move into the third round of the Australian Open.

Sharapova, playing her first event of the season after delaying her start by a fortnight because of a lingering ankle injury, required a surprisingly long 64 minutes to score the victory against an opponent who won just a single game.

Russian seventh seed Vera Zvonareva took out Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) while former number one Ana Ivanovic beat Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek 6-2, 6-3.

There were also wins for Italian Sara Errani over Russia's Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2 and Ekaterina Makarova, who beat this month's Brisbane champion, Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-2, 7-6.

Ivanovic, the 22nd-ranked French Open champion from four years ago, said the two-set win was tougher than it looked.

'It definitely got tough in the second set in particular,' the Basel-based Serb said. 'She was serving really well on first serve. It was tough for me to read it at times.

'I really thought I did well on my serves and stayed calm and held, which is very important, but she gave me a tough match. I expected to work hard today.'