MOSCOW, June 1 (R-Sport) – Maria Sharapova moved to the fourth round of the French Open on Saturday with an easy victory over China’s Jie Zheng.
The world No. 2 fired three aces and hit 25 winners as she took the match 6-1, 7-5 in one hour and 45 minutes at Roland Garros. Sharapova, however, labored through a 70-minute second set in which she committed 22 unforced errors.
“The set is not over until the last point of the set is played,” she said after the match. “So you have to have the mentality that even if I don’t win that set, I feel like I’m playing with some energy and I can turn things around.”
The defending French Open champion next faces world No. 17 Sloane Stephens, who held off Marina Erakovic in three sets earlier Saturday.
“She’s playing extremely well,” Sharapova said of Stephens. “She got to the semifinals of the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam, so she’s playing really good tennis. It’s the fourth round, an opportunity to get into the quarters of the French Open, so I’m sure it’ll be a tough one.”
Sharapova is 2-0 in her career against Stephens and beat the American on clay at the Rome Open earlier this month.
