Sharapova, Kvitova, Ivanovic reach 3rd round at Madrid Open
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Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Reigning champion Maria Sharapova, former titlist Petra Kvitova and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic were among Tuesday's second-round winners at the Madrid Open tennis event.
The third-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova blitzed Colombian qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino 6-1, 6-2.
"She is someone who, if you give her time, creates angles, slices and usually drop shots a lot more than she did in this match because she has the hands and the ability to do so," Sharapova said.
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The French Open champion Sharapova topped Romanian Simona Halep in last year's Madrid finale and was the 2013 runner-up here to American great Serena Williams.
Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Kvitova held off American Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and the former top-ranked star Ivanovic cooled off last week's Marrakech champ Elina Svitolina, of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-4 on the red clay at the Magic Box.
The Wimbledon champion Kvitova was a Madrid titlist in 2011.
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In other action involving seeds, No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain drove out German qualifier Julia Goerges 6-3, 7-5, rising Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia took out No. 14 Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upended No. 15 Italian Sara Errani 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Pliskova was fresh off her clay-court title in Prague.
Also on Day 4, Czech Barbora Strycova topped American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-2 and former world No. 1 and two-time Madrid runner-up Victoria Azarenka erased Croat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3.
Azarenka is rewarded with a third-round match against the current world No. 1 Williams, who captured back-to-back Madrid titles in 2012 and 2013 and has yet to lose this year, going 22-0. The powerful American has won her last 25 matches overall, dating back to November.
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Williams is 14-3 lifetime against Azarenka, including a victory in the 2012 Madrid final.
Some other third-round matches will pit Sharapova against Garcia; Kvitova versus Pavlyuchenkova; fifth-seeded former No. 1 and 2009 Madrid runner-up Caroline Wozniacki against ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska; and Ivanovic versus Suarez Navarro.