Maria Sharapova Advances to Third Round In China Open By defeating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

Maria Sharapova and the struggling Victoria Azarenka met one another in the second round of the WTA China Open earlier today in what looked like the best second round match in the tournament. Sharapova came in fresh off of a Tokyo title from a few days ago and looked to continue her form as one of the tournament favorites in Beijing.

After taking the first set fairly easily, Sharapova faced a challenge as the second set went to a tiebreaker. Though it was a close tiebreaker, Azarenka pulled it out and won 7-5. That set up a third set that promised to be entertaining.

Down a break at 3-5, Sharapova looked like she was finished. However at that point she held serve and then she broke Azarenka in a deuce-game to put the match back on serve. Sharapova then held and broke Azarenka at 5-6 to win the match by a score of 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.

The win over Azarenka required a great deal of perseverance. Although Azarenka has not been playing well lately she is still a top 10 player and a very tough opponent. With the win Sharapova advances to the third round in Tokyo and is starting to look really good in the future's market (better than she's looked in a long time).