Sharapova shrugs off injury to progress

Maria Sharapova today revealed she was playing through injury in an attempt to conquer the biggest challenge of her career - winning the French Open title.

The 20-year-old Russian has been out of action for two months because of severe tendinitis in her shoulder, but was determined to make it to Roland Garros in a bid to claim one of the two grand-slam titles she is yet to win.

The second seed made a solid start to her campaign with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory over Frenchwoman Emilie Loit on day four in Paris.

Sharapova joined fifth-seed and home favourite Amelie Mauresmo, as well as third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, in being the last of the big names to progress from the first round.

Mauresmo survived a belated fightback from Laura Granville to secure a 6-0 7-5 victory on Suzanne Lenglen court, while last year's runner-up Kuznetsova cruised past fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-0 6-3.

Today saw the second round start, and reigning champion Justine Henin was the star attraction.

The diminutive Belgian, the top seed here, is looking to win her third straight Roland Garros title, and she made it into round three following a 7-5 6-1 triumph over 16-year-old Tamira Paszek, of Austria.

Venus Williams sent down the biggest woman's serve in grand-slam history during her 6-1 7-6 (10/8) second-round victory over plucky fellow American Ashley Harkleroad.

Williams, the 26th seed, unleashed a serve of 128m/h to overtake her previous mark of 125m/h, produced at Wimbledon in 1998 and 2001 and the US Open in 2004.

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, of the Netherlands, holds the overall women's record, following her 130m/h serve in a qualifier last year in Cincinnati.

Williams made life needlessly hard for herself, as when she was a set and 5-1, it seemed the 2002 runner-up was going to cruise to victory.

But Harkleroad suddenly found some form and with errors beginning to creep into Williams' game, the 22-year-old pulled the set around to force a tie-break. Williams looked relieved when Harkleroad's return into the net handed her the match.

The American will play Serbia's Jelena Jankovic next following the fourth seed's 6-3 6-3 win over Catalina Castano.

Elena Dementieva, the 13th seed from Russia, also progressed to the third round thanks to a 7-5 7-5 win over France's Mathilde Johansson.

Serena Williams, the eighth seed, was scheduled to take on Milagros Sequera on Wednesday, but her match has been put back until tomorrow.

In other first-round matches, Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, seeded seven, trounced Sofia Arvidsson 6-2 6-0 but Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 champion, lasted just 38 minutes before her campaign was ended by American Meghann Shaughnessy.

The Russian was thrashed 6-1 6-0 in the first round, in only her second competitive clash of the year.

She has not won a match since Stockholm last August, with injury and poor form hitting the former world number two hard.

Womens Singles 1st rd:
(7) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 6-2 6-0, Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Alberta Brianti (Ita) 6-1 6-1, Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) bt Youlia Fedossova (Fra) 6-3 6-2, Raluca Olaru (Rom) bt (30) Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) 6-4 6-1, (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) bt Varvara Lepchenko (Uzb) 6-1 2-6 6-2, Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 4-6 7-5 6-3, Olga Poutchkova (Rus) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 7-5 0-6 6-3, (12) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 6-3 6-1, (15) Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-1 6-3, Edina Gallovitz (Rom) bt Vassilissa Bardina (Rus) 6-0 4-0 ret, Vera Dushevina (Rus) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-4 6-4, (17) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Anastassia Rodionova (Rus) 6-1 6-3, (32) Martina Muller (Ger) bt Rossana De Los Rios (Par) 6-4 6-4, Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Tian Tian Sun (Chn) 6-4 6-4, Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) bt Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-1 6-0, (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-0 6-3, (5) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Laura Granville (USA) 6-0 7-5, Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-0, Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, (25) Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 6-4 6-3, (21) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 6-3 6-4, Melien Tu (USA) bt Romina Oprandi (Ita) 6-3 6-4, Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt Anne Kremer (Lux) 7-5 6-2, (9) Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) leads Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-2 6-3, (14) Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Martina Sucha (Svk) 2-6 6-1 6-2, Katerina Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Zuzana Ondraskova (Cze) 6-0 6-1, Karin Knapp (Ita) bt Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 6-1 6-1, (22) Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-0 6-1, (29) Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) 6-4 6-3, Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) bt Julia Schruff (Ger) 6-1 6-4, Jill Craybas (USA) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spa) 6-1 2-6 6-4, (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Emilie Loit (Fra) 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Womens Singles 2nd rd:
(1) Justine Henin (Bel) bt Tamira Paszek (Aut) 7-5 6-1, (28) Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-3 6-2, (20) Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukr) 6-0 6-3, (16) Na Li (Chn) bt Pauline Parmentier (Fra) 6-3 3-6 6-4, (10) Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Tzipora Obziler (Isr) 6-1 6-0, (23) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 6-3 7-6 (7-5), Michaella Krajicek (Ned) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-4 5-7 6-1, (4) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Catalina Castano (Col) 6-3 6-3, (26) Venus Williams (USA) bt Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 6-1 7-6 (10-8), (18) Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 0-6 6-2 6-3, (13) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-5 7-5, Stephanie Cohen Aloro (Fra) bt Kveta Peschke (Cze) 6-1 6-1, (19) Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) 6-4 6-3, (27) Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-1 3-6 7-5, (6) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Akgul Amanmuradov (Uzb) 6-2 6-4