MOSCOW, June 24 (R-Sport) – World No. 3 tennis player Maria Sharapova delivered a straight-sets defeat to Francess Kristina Mladenovic in the first round at Wimbledon on Monday.
After a close-fought first set, Sharapova upped a gear to storm to a 7-6(5), 6-3 win in one hour and 42 minutes.
The first set went unbroken till the tie-break, where two double faults by Mladenovic cost her victory. Then, the Russian started to play with more aggression and took the second set with 14 winners against her opponent’s four.
Sharapova, the 2004 champion, will face world No. 123 Melanie Oudin of the United States or Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito in Round 2.
Elsewhere, Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, seeded 16th, ousted local wild card Johanna Konta 6-2, 7-5 to book a second-round encounter with her compatriot Vesna Dolonts.
Earlier in the day, second seed Victoria Azarenka overcame a knee injury to knock out Portugal’s Maria Joao Koehler 6-1, 6-2.
