WTA: Sharapova in Round Two

Maria Sharapova has overcome her opening hurdle in Tianjin: She defeated the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in two sets.

Sharapova won 6-4,6-2 over Begu and now meets Magda Linette from Poland or Kateryna Bondarenko from Ukraine.

Sharapva, currently the world’s number 86 due to her doping ban and various injuries, is currently in the field thanks to a wildcard and should have had to play directly against the number one seeded Caroline Garcia, who retired shortly before the start of the tournament due to injury.At position two is Petra Kvitova, who plays Lin Zhu.