Maria Sharapova was back in action Wednesday as she kicked off her campaign in Cincinnati against Australian Anastasia Rodionova. And it was all about the Russian as she dropped just four games in her straight sets 6-1 6-3 victory. She will now face either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Petra Cetkovsk in the next round. Despite winning in straight sets it was a touch match for Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova as she faced Chanelle Scheepers in her opening match. The first set required a tie break as the two women were locked together at 6-6 and in that breaker Kvitova picked up the pace to take it 7-3. The second set proved to be a much more straight forward affair for the sixth seed as she sealed the match 7-6 (7-3) 6-3. She will now face either Andrea Petkovic or Sofia Arvidsson in the third round. French Open champion Li Na was also in action as she was looking to improve on her opening match defeat in Toronto last week. She was up against Lucie Safarova and needed just two sets to see off the big hitter in a much improved performance on last week. Speaking to the WTA after the match she said: “It was tough but I was happy I could win today. I’ve been missing a lot of shots so I need some more matches on hard courts. “It’s not one thing like my running, my forehand or backhand – it’s
just my timing. I need some more matches to find my timing again.
