Maria Sharapova recovered from a slow start to beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in straight sets on Centre Court at Wimbledon this afternoon.
The 2004 champion found herself a break down after just one game as the windy conditions at SW19 appeared to affect the Russian's serve.
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The fourth seed broke straight back though, and the pair remained deadlocked throughout the opening eight games of the first set.
Begu made a couple of mistakes on her serve with the scores tied at 4-4 though, allowing Sharapova to pick up the break and serve the set out in the next game.
The Romanian was on the back foot early in the second set as Sharapova started to attack more on the return, giving her a double break and a 5-0 lead.
Begu held serve in the sixth game of the set to get a game on the board, leaving Sharapova to serve for the match, but a double fault and a string of unforced errors allowed the 29th seed to get a game back.
The Romanian picked up a third game in a row to put pressure on Sharapova as she prepared to serve for the match for a second time, but the Russian held her nerve at the second time of asking to move through.
Sharapova will face either Andrea Petkovic of Germany or Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas in the fourth round.
Sian Cowper
