Maria Sharapova has advanced to the third round of the Madrid Open by beating Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-1 6-2.
The third-seeded Russian and defending champion broke Duque-Marino's serve four times while saving three break points on her own serve on Tuesday.
"She is someone who, if you give her time, creates angles, slices and usually drop-shots a lot more than she did in this match because she has the hands and the ability to do so," Sharapova said.
Sharapova's next opponent will be Caroline Garcia of France, who beat the 14th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2 4-6 6-1.
Fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic also advanced, beating Coco Vandeweghe of the United States 6-4 2-6 6-3.
Also, Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic beat Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-4 6-2, and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated Croatian-born Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-3.
Azarenka next faces top-seeded Serena Williams.
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, seeded-seventh, beat Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3 6-4.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia rallied in a hard-fought second set to beat Sara Errani of Italy 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.
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