Melbourne: Fired-up second seed Maria Sharapova blitzed her way into the Australian Open fourth round yesterday, swatting aside Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in straight sets.
<img title="Maria Sharapova" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/jan/M-Sharapova2401.jpg" alt="Maria Sharapova" /> Maria Sharapova celebrates after beating Zarina Diyas in Melbourne yesterday. Pic/AFP.
The Russian five-time Grand Slam champion crushed the 31st seed 6-1, 6-1 to revive her Open campaign after surviving a massive scare in her previous match against compatriot Alexandra Panova.
The 27-year-old, the 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, ramped up her aggression against Diyas after being forced to save two match points in the Panova three-setter, sending a message that she is back to her best.
&ldquo;She (Diyas) is capable of playing really well if you give her the chance. She&rsquo;s young, up-and-coming and has nothing to lose, and sometimes those matches are the toughest ones,&rdquo; she said.
Need for aggression Sharapova said she was hurting after almost exiting the tournament and was determined to bounce back strongly. &ldquo;I started really focused, I knew I had a tough, long match previously, so I wanted to start off strong and finish strong, I think I did a good job of that,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;I rebounded really well. I just thought a little bit about what I wanted to try to achieve tonight... I focused on myself more than anything else. Just tried to be a bit more aggressive.&rdquo;
Uncharacteristically, Sharapova revealed she had doubts about how she would respond after seeing her title dream hanging by a thread. &ldquo;You never quite know after such a big challenge,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You have so many thoughts going through your mind and all of a sudden you&rsquo;re still in the tournament and you feel like you have another life.&rdquo;
Sharapova&rsquo;s fourth round opponent will be China&rsquo;s Peng Shuai, who made the US Open semi-finals last year.
Tricky challenge &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t played each other in a long while,&rdquo; Sharapova said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to play someone who&rsquo;s been going well in the Slams and in particular had such a great run at the US Open. She&rsquo;s going to be a tough one. You know, she&rsquo;s a bit of an untraditional player with two hands on both sides. That&rsquo;s a little tricky.&rdquo;

Fired-up second seed Maria Sharapova blitzed her way into the Australian Open fourth round yesterday, swatting aside Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in straight sets

Australian Open: Maria Sharapova strolls into Round 4

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Australian Open: Maria Sharapova strolls into Round 4

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