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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Top seed Maria Sharapova was given an almighty scare before edging past rookie Evgeniya Rodina and into the second round of the French Open.





Never before has the women's number one seed exited in the first round at Roland Garros, but Rodina threatened to inflict that ignominy on her Russian compatriot before succumbing to a 6-1 3-6 8-6 defeat.
Sharapova looked set for a routine victory as she breezed through the first set, but her teenage opponent - playing her first Grand Slam match - fought back in tremendous style.
One break of serve was good enough to earn Rodina the second set and force a decider.
In it Sharapova twice served to stay in the match at 4-5 and 5-6 but held her nerve to finally get the better of her tiring rival, victory arriving when Rodina sent a backhand long.
Sharapova, who inherited the world number one spot when Justine Henin announced her retirement earlier in the month, cut a relieved figure after the match, stating: "I just hung in there.
"It was far from my best tennis but you just learn from your mistakes. I was very close to losing this match. Not many things were working for me today after that first set."
While never at her best, she looked to have far too much for her opponent - ranked 104 in the world - after a one-sided opening set.
Sharapova broke in the very first game of the match and, although Rodina returned the compliment to make the scoreline 1-1, then proceeded to reel off five straight games to move a set up.
However, numerous unforced errors began to creep into her game in the second and Rodina secured an immediate break to edge 2-0 ahead.
Struggling on her own delivery Sharapova, who produced 17 double-faults during the match, could not break Rodina's serve as she sprayed ground-strokes wide and long with regularity.
Growing in confidence, the teenager levelled the match with her second break of the set and showed no signs of cracking as she more than matched her more illustrious rival in the opening exchanges of the third.
Indeed, a major upset looked a distinct possibility as she brought up break points on the Sharapova serve at 4-3 only for the Australian Open champion to respond just when she needed it most.
With Rodina suffering from cramp, Sharapova finally got the break she needed to move 7-6 ahead and then dug deep to serve out the match at the first time of asking. She will now play American Bethanie Mattek for a place in the third round.

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