Sharapova made to work hard

TENNIS/Australian Open: Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova had a scare before overcoming American Lindsay Lee-Waters in the Australian Open yesterday, the 17-year-old dropping the first set on her way to a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory.

"She played amazing in the first set, she was playing shots on the run that were just too good," admitted Sharapova. "It seemed like everything was going in. From my side, I was making too many errors."

Fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva was not so fortunate however, the ninth seed losing to compatriot Vera Douchevina 6-3 6-3.

Svetlana Kuznetsova put the furore surrounding her reported failed drugs test behind her as she thrashed France's Marion Bartoli.

The US Open champion admitted taking a cold remedy which could have caused the reported positive finding at an exhibition in Belgium last month - news of which initially implicated either Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva or Nathalie Dechy.

It has resulted in a breakdown in relations between Kuznetsova and Dementieva, with the latter seemingly blaming her countrywoman for implicating her and Dechy in the scandal.

"I think she said her piece yesterday, I didn't talk to her," Kuznetsova said. "I kind of understand her. Everybody has an opinion. Sometimes we just understand disappointment with other people because I think we are all involved and we are all victims of this.

"I think I'm professional enough to go out there and just do my job. While I was on court I was not thinking about this. Afterwards, just walking off the court I felt like everything starts to come back to me."

Earlier in the day France's Amelie Mauresmo recovered from a set down to charge into the third round.

As the temperature soared to 95 degrees, Mauresmo seemed to be wilting in the heat as she surrendered the first set to Russian Dinara Safina on the Vodafone Arena. But the second seed hit back to claim the second set 6-1 and breezed through the decider without dropping a game to advance to the last 32.

Men's fourth seed Marat Safin watched his sister's defeat and later offered a scathing assessment of Safina's prospects.

"She has to make a lot of changes to be able to compete with all these kinds of players like Amelie," Safin said. "I know everybody is saying to her she is still young, she has big future.

"But I'm sorry, if you don't really understand yourself what's going on, it's a little bit difficult for somebody to fix it and explain it. It's my duty to help her, but if she doesn't want to listen then we are going to have a lot of matches like this.

"There is no more charity for my sister. She has to learn the hard way. It's just a little sad to see the train pass and then she has to run away when I told her already, 'take this train before it's going be too late'."

The Williams sisters seem to be having a happier sibling relationship, sharing a hotel room during the championship.

And Serena insisted that would stay the same even if they find themselves facing off in the latter stages of the tournament.

"I try to poison her sometimes but it never really works," Williams joked after enjoying an easy passage into the third round with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar.

"One time I put a pillow over her head but she woke up. That didn't quite work out. I told her I was just moving the pillow!"