No. 16 seed, Maria Sharapova advanced to the fourth round of the 2011 WTA BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells with an easy, straight sets win over No. 20 seed, Aravane Rezai of France, 6-2, 6-2.
Rezai was celebrating her 24th birthday, and was hoping for a win to cap it off, but it wasn’t to be. In just 73 minutes, Sharapova had put a damper on the birthday-girl’s hopes.
It took Sharapova a few games to get used to Rezai’s pace, but once she did, there was no stopping her. She benefited from her opponent’s missteps, but also played much better than in her last match, a three-set battle with Anabel Medina Garrigues.
In her fourth round on Tuesday, Sharapova will face her compatriot, former World No. 1, Dinara Safina of Russia. Sharapova and Safina are tied at 3-3 in career matches. They last met almost three years ago at Roland Garros, where Safina defeated Sharapova 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-2.
