Maria Sharapova survived a sticky start to move into the second round of the WTA Madrid Open yesterday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.
The Russian, who won the French Open on clay last year, brought a 16-match winning streak on the surface into Madrid and was strongly favoured to coast past a player who has been dogged by knee injuries.
But she struggled at times in the first set before finding her range in the second.u00a0
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