Sharapova serves her way into second round

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) Third seed Maria Sharapova used a dominant serve and laser-like groundstrokes to crush Dutch teenager Michaella Krajicek 6-3 6-0 and advance to the second round of the US Open.

Sharapova hit 10 aces and was successful on 82 per cent of her first serves to defeat Krajicek in 59 minutes yesterday.

The 17-year-old Krajicek lost her serve to open the match and then hung in with Sharapova until getting broken again in the ninth game to lose the set.

Krajicek, making her Open debut, hit four double faults and just one ace in the match.

Sharapova, whose best finish at the Open was 2005 when she lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters, will next face the winner of the match between two Frenchwomen, Camille Pin and Emilie Loit.

Reuters SRS VP0618