Maria Sharapova through to third, Daria Gavrilova through to second round at US Open

MARIA Sharapova is through to the third round of the US Open after a tough three-set battle against Timea Babos of Hungary.

Maria Sharapova, of Russia, reacts after scoring a point against Timea Babos.

NO ONE, not even Maria Sharapova herself, knew quite what to expect from her return to Grand Slam tennis at the U.S. Open.

It had been 19 months since she had entered a major tournament. She played only nine times anywhere since returning from a 15-month doping suspension in April.

Two three-set tussles into her stay at Flushing Meadows, it’s clear that Sharapova’s game might be patchy, but she is as capable as ever of coming up with big strokes in big moments - and maybe, just maybe, could stick around for a while in a depleted draw.

Russia's Maria Sharapova returns the ball to Hungary's Timea Babos.

Sharapova became the first woman into the third round at the U.S. Open by using 12 aces to help set aside a poor start and coming back to beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday in Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was the highlight of a busy day that featured 87 singles matches on the schedule after rain washed out most play a day earlier.

“It wasn’t my best tennis,” Sharapova acknowledged in an on-court interview. “It felt like it was a scrappy match.” Sure was, particularly in the early going.

Sharapova made a whopping 19 unforced errors in the first set alone, including a pair of missed forehands that handed over the opening set to the 59th-ranked Babos.

But as the match went on, Sharapova looked more and more like someone who used to be ranked No. 1 and owns five major titles - including the 2006 U.S. Open - than someone who needed a wild-card invitation from the U.S. Tennis Association because she is now 146th, on account of her ban and lack of play.

Maria Sharapova returns a shot against Timea Babos.

“In the second set, I just felt like I was physically fresh and that gave me a lot of confidence,” said the 30-year-old Russian, who wore a strip of black tape on the left forearm that bothered her earlier in the month.

“I just wanted to be fittest player out there in the end, and I really felt like I was.”

She cut down her miscues to 12 unforced errors in the second set, then just five in the third, and finished with a 39-13 advantage in winners, looking as strong as she did while eliminating No. 2 seed Simona Halep in a three-set thriller in Ashe on Monday.

“It was definitely tough to control the emotions yesterday, because as much as you want to be happy about that match and what I accomplished there, you want to move on really fast,” Sharapova said.

“And so finding that balance is really hard. Today I felt like going into the match I just wanted to get it done. And I did.”

Not quickly, though: She already has spent nearly 5 hours on court, and so perhaps the yelling and fist-pumping she showed at the end against Babos were as much a reflection of a sense of relief as celebration.

If her 14 return winners were a key to getting past Halep, it was Sharapova’s serving that really made a difference down the stretch against Babos: She won 16 of the last 19 points she served.

Hungary's Timea Babos won the first set against Maria Sharapova.

GAVRILOVA DASHES INTO SECOND ROUND

Daria Gavrilova celebrates her win over Allie Kiick.

A resounding win for in-form Daria Gavrilova has given Australia’s women’s tennis stars their best start to the US Open in more than 30 years. Gavrilova extended her hardcourt winning streak to six matches with a 6-2 6-1 rout of Allie Kiick to join Ashleigh Barty, Arina Rodionova and Ajla Tomljanovic as first-round winners.

It’s the first time four Australian women have progressed to the second round at Flushing Meadows since 1986.

“It’s nice that everyone got a win, all the girls, so we’re all supporting each other, which is always helpful,” Gavrilova said.

Fresh off her WTA title breakthrough in New Haven on Sunday, the world No.20 lived up to her new-found status as an Open dark horse with a clinical display on the Grandstand court.

Gavrilova needed exactly an hour to see off the world No.634, breaking Kiick seven times and dropping serve only once in recording her first victory in New York since winning the junior crown in 2010.

Daria Gavrilova returns a shot from Allie Kiick.

“It was great to get a win,” she said.

“It’s obviously nice to get it done in an hour. I played pretty aggressive. It was a quick one.

“I didn’t think too much of what happened last week. I was just focused on what I had to do today.

“I played okay, a pretty solid first-round match, but I can still improve.” Gavrilova will return on Friday to play another American, world No.62 Shelby Rogers, a surprise French Open semi-finalist last year.

“She’s obviously going to have home support and I know this girl pretty well. It’s obviously going to be challenging,” said Australia’s 25th seed. “She’s got a pretty big game but I’m just going to get out there and do what I have to do.” Not since the days when Wendy Turnbull, Liz Minter and Liz Smylie were prominent in grand slam draws in the 1980s has Australia enjoyed such a promising start to the Open.

Turnbull, Minter and Smylie, along with Jenny Byrne and Amanda Tobin, all made it past the first round in New York 31 years ago.

OTHER RESULTS FROM WOMEN’S DRAW

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska beat Petra Martic 6-4 7-6 (7-3).

Kenin beat Sachia Vickery 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-0) in an all-American encounter.

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the fourth seed, saw off Katerina Siniakova 6-0 6-7(5-7) 6-3 in their first-round clash, while eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova survived three match points in a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) victory over Marketa Vondrousova.

Tenth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska beat Petra Martic 6-4 7-6 (7-3) and Russian 17th seed Elena Vesnina defeated Anna Blinkova 6-1 6-3. American CoCo Vandeweghe, the 20th seed, overwhlemed countrywomen Alison Riske 2-6 6-3 6-4, while China’s 27th-seeded Zhang Shuai beat Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0.

Kristina Mladenovic, the 14th seed, slumped to a 6-3 6-2 defeat to Romanian Monica Niculescu.

Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina pulled away after a close first set to beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.

Kaia Kanepi of Estonia fought back from a first-set bagel to account for Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone 0-6 6-4 6-2.

Others to advance to the second round were Kirsten Flipkens, Ana Bogdan, Tatjana Marie, Denisa Allertova, Nao Hibino, Ons Jabeur, Jennifer Brady and Nicole Gibbs.

Originally published as Maria Sharapova through to third, Daria Gavrilova through to second round at US Open