Sharapova struggles past Pironkova

Top seed Maria Sharapova overcame a second-set wobble to beat Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6, 6-7, 6-0 and reach the Wimbledon third round on Thursday.

The match was halted on Wednesday evening with the Russian leading 3-1 in the second set but she lost the first two games to allow Bulgarian Pironkova, a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago, a foothold.

Pironkova relied on her powerful serve to cause Sharapova problems and the world number one double-faulted three times in the tiebreak on the way to losing it 7-3.

Sharapova, Wimbledon champion in 2004, regrouped quickly, however, and roared through the third set in 29 minutes to set up a match against Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei.

"I started so slowly today and she came out firing today and yesterday," the French Open champion said. "It's always difficult to stop a match especially when you have the momentum.

"I wanted to start strong today but it didn't happen for me," Sharapova added. "My serve let me down in the tiebreaker."