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SAN DIEGO, Aug 2: Defending champion Maria Sharapova made an impressive return to the San Diego Classic by overpowering Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 6-3 in the second round on Wednesday.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams also put in a solid performance, beating Virginie Razzano of France 6-2, 6-4.
Number two seed Sharapova will face 13th seed Tatiana Golovin of France on Thursday, who beat Luxembourg's Anne Kremer 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Playing her first match since falling to Venus Williams in the fourth round of Wimbledon, Sharapova played a steady yet lethal match, standing inside the baseline and taking big rips at the Thai's groundstrokes.
Sharapova, who has been troubled by a shoulder injury all year, also cut loose on her first serves and kept most of the points short, nailing nine aces.
Third seed Anna Chakvetadze, who has won consecutive titles in Cincinnati and Stanford, took down American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-4, 6-4.
Sixth seed Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovakia beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, earning herself a third round match with Williams on Thursday.
Williams, a three-time winner in San Diego, never backed off from her powerful attack. Razzano came right at the 10th seed, but was nowhere near as accurate as her opponent.
Eighth seed Dinara Safina of Russia, ninth seed Elena Dementieva and 11th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also secured wins.
Schnyder was playing fellow Swiss and seventh seed Martina Hingis on Thursday.
Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Second round: 1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-1, 6-3; 10-Venus Williams (US) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 6-2, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat 16-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); 9-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-1, 6-2; 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; 3-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-4, 6-4; 11-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-2, 6-0; 8-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Camille Pin (France) 6-1, 6-4; 6-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 15-Sybille Bammer (Austria) 6-2 ,7-6 (7-3); Sania Mirza (India) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat 14-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-1.
WASHINGTON: Sweden's Thomas Johansson served his way into the third round of the Washington Classic with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over fourth seed and defending champion Arnaud Clement on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old former Australian Open champion was blitzed in the opening set but discovered his serving touch to claim his fifth career victory in 10 matches against the Frenchman.
In other second-round matches, sixth seed Mardy Fish of the United States lost to Germany's Michael Berrer 7-6, 6-4 while wild card John Isner of the United States stunned eighth seed Benjamin Becker of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 7-6.
Johansson managed to break Clement once in each of the final two sets but it was enough to secure the win and set up a third-round affair against Chile's Paul Capdeville.
Clement, ranked 30th in the world, was nursing a pulled stomach muscle but refused to use it as an excuse.
Fish is suffering from tendinitis in both knees and had his serve broken four times against Berrer.
Top seed Andy Roddick had the night off and was slated to play Czech Radek Stepanek on Thursday.
Wednesday’s results:
Second round: 2-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Alejandro Falla (Colombia) 6-3, 6-2; 16-Michael Russell (US) beat Wesley Whitehouse (South Africa) 7-6 (7-1), 4-1 – Whitehouse retired; Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat 4-Arnaud Clement (France) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; 11-Julien Benneteau (France) beat Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-2, 6-3; Michael Berrer (Germany) beat 6-Mardy Fish (US) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; John Isner (US) beat 8-Benjamin Becker (Germany) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6); Wayne Odesnik (US) beat 10-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 6-3; 15-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Paul Goldstein (US) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 12-Vince Spadea (US) beat Wesley Moodie (South Africa) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3); 7-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 6-3, 6-3.
SOPOT (Poland): Seventh-seed Florian Mayer of Germany reached the quarter-finals of the Polish Open at Sopot with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Frenchman Olivier Patience on Wednesday.
The German next plays Jose Acasuso, champion in 2002, after the Argentine beat his compatriot Sergio Roitman 6-4, 6-4.
Russian Igor Andreev and Frenchman Gilles Simon also advanced to the last eight.
Wednesday’s results:
Second round: Gilles Simon (France) beat Boris Pasanski (Serbia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; 7-Florian Mayer (Germany) beat Olivier Patience (France) 6-1, 6-1; Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Michal Przysiezny (Poland) 7-5, 6-4; Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat Sergio Roitman (Argentina) 6-4, 6-4.—Reuters
