Shrieking Maria Sharapova survives a slow start

Maria Sharapova maintained her challenge for back-to-back Grand Slam titles when she beat battling Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in a second round match that had stretched into a second day.

But the top seed, fresh from her victory in the French Open, was made to fight for her 7-6, 6-7, 6-0 win even though it ended in remorseless fashion with a final set taken to love.

Certainly, Pironkova’s world ranking of 38 did her no justice as her stubborn refusal to bow to a supposedly superior player had a frustrated Sharapova shrieking at a volume to rival that of the jet-liners lining up over Court One to land at Heathrow airport.

Resuming at 3-1 up in the second, having saved five set points to take the opening set on the tie-break, the usually steely Sharapova appeared nervous at the resumption of a match that had been halted just after 9pm last night due to bad light.

She gave up her opening service game on a double fault, which was to serve notice of a mini-crisis in Sharapova’s game. It became apparent in the second set tie-break where two double faults at 2-1 down allowed Pironkova to take a decisive advantage.

It set the stage for what could have been a dramatic third set, but the Russian is not a champion for nothing and her power finally told on a hapless opponent.