Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova stretched her winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the second round of the Zurich Challenge on Wednesday.
"I'm never really 100 percent satisfied with my game but I felt pretty much in control, particularly on my serve," said Sharapova after firing 11 aces past her opponent.
Coming to Zurich off the back of tournament victories in Seoul and Tokyo, Sharapova seems to have rediscovered the form that momentarily deserted her after the Wimbledon triumph.
Between winning the Grand Slam event in July and arriving in Seoul at the start of this month, the 17-year-old Russian had been unable to string together more than two wins in a row.
"I don't know if there's any particular reason for this winning streak," Sharapova said on Wednesday. "I see my game as a work in progress and so I never expected that I'd be able to just win every match after Wimbledon."
Dubbed the 'battle of the beauties' by one local newspaper, Wednesday's match brought together two players whose photogenic qualities often draw more attention than their groundstrokes.
But on this occasion, the tennis proved just as attractive with the tall blondes contesting several thrilling rallies.
HARDER WORK
After beating Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 in the third round at Wimbledon, the fourth-seeded Sharapova had to work a little harder for her victory in Zurich.
Winning the first set after a single break, the 17-year-old Russian was herself broken in the sixth game of the second set.
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Australia's Olympic bronze medallist Alicia Molik also booked a quarter-final place at the expense of Russian sixth seed Vera Zvonareva, winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
The biggest surprise of the day, though, came in a first round encounter between two 16-year-olds, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia & Montenegro and France's Tatiana Golovin.
Ivanovic, ranked 156th, beat the world number 29 after a remarkable recovery from 5-1 down in the final set to win an entertaining match 7-5, 6-7, 7-6.
The Belgrade schoolgirl, who has won five events on the ITF women's circuit this year, now faces American Venus Williams in a second round match scheduled for Thursday.
The winner will meet Sharapova in the last eight.
Top seed Elena Dementieva will also be in second round action on Thursday when she is due to face her fellow Russian and namesake Elena Bovina.
Bovina, the world number 18, overcame Italy's Francesca Schiavone in straight sets on Wednesday.
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