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Sharapova Makes it Through Opener

Top seed Maria Sharapova needed the nerves of a grand slam champion to escape an upset bid from fellow teenager Shahar Peer, earning a tightly contested 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 win on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open. The world No.1, last year",s Wimbledon winner, went through some shaky moments in her two-hour, four-minute battle with the 48th-ranked Israeli.

But Peer, aged 18 like Sharapova, was unable to achieve her impossible dream, leaving the favourite as a winner after going the distance on Centre Court at the Beijing Tennis Centre. I played really well in the first set but then I just got too comfortable out there,", said Sharapova, a semi-finalist last year. ",I think she was nervous at first but then she began playing better and the second set was more up and down. I wasn",t physically tired, but mentally I was coasting. So I just had to get myself together mentally and fight for it.", Sharapova will line up on Friday against Japan",s Shinobu Asagoe, who stopped American Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-4.

Tournament director Ekkehard Rathgeber said Sharapova had made an immediate impact on the China Open. Maria is extremely popular here in China and you could see that from the way the fans reacted when she played, said Rathgeber, who is also Chief Operating Officer of TOM Group Limited, an associate of Hutchison Whampoa. She lost her way a little in the second set but really showed her quality in the third.