Sharapova marches into fourth round at Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 18 (IANS) Maria Sharapova defeated 25th-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) in the third round at the Australian Open here Saturday.

The 2008 champion won 70 percent of her first-serve points and outscored Cornet 35-11 in winners, reports Xinhua.

The Russian raced through the first set in 32 minutes. Cornet forced a tiebreak while trailing 3-5 in the second set but was still unable to force a deciding set.

The four-time Grand Slam champion won in an hour and 51 minutes to set up a clash with 20th-seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who beat No.16 seed Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-0.