Sharapova progresses

The second seeded Russian had her serve broken three times in the second set to fall 4-1 behind before the 20-year-old rattled off five games in a row to take the match.

Sharapova, who returned recently from a right shoulder injury, started well enough against a player making her main draw debut at Roland Garros, taking the opening set in 28 minutes.

A string of double faults and wild groundstrokes threw her off course in the second set as 19-year-old Kudryavtseva threatened to extend the two-times grand slam champion into a third set.

"I was making a lot of unforced errors," Sharapova told a packed news conference after the match. "I'm happy that I was able to come back and find a way to win but in a way it was lousy because I know not a lot of people are not going to let me get away with that."

Kudryavtseva praised the way Sharapova handled the occasion.

"She's a great fighter, she fights until the end," she said. "We both had pressure today. I had pressure because of her big name, she won Wimbledon at 17, I've watched her so many times on TV so even when I was 4-1 up I knew how good she can play and how much she would fight.

"For Maria there's pressure too. Imagine her losing to a qualifier in the third round. But she deals with it at every tournament."

Meanwhile, Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues edged a three-hour battle against Slovakian 12th seed Daniela Hantuchova, winning 4-6 7-6 7-5 to reach the fourth round.

On the warmest day of the championships so far, the 24-year-old from Valencia wore down the former world number five with some gritty tennis.

Hantuchova saved one match point at 4-5 in the deciding set with a brave drive volley but there was no escape two games later when Garrigues got a second chance.

Garrigues, who has matched her best run at a grand slam, will face Israel's Shahar Peer in the last 16 after she beat Katarina Srebotnik, also in three sets.

REUTERS