2004 Champion Maria Sharapova moved into the quarterfinals of Wimbledon after a rough start as she beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to next face American Coco Wandeweghe for a place in the last 4.
The first set saw Sharapova take a 5-2 lead only to see Diyas fight back and get it back to 5-4. With 11 winners and 2 aces in the set, the Russian dominated play throughout the opener and though there was a rough patch midway, she used her experience to take Set 1.
With 74% first serves in, Sharapova won most points on the first serve but paid the price on the second, winning just 2 out of 8 points. Having been broken once in the first set, Sharapova broke her opponents serve twice to take it in 50 minutes.
The second set saw Diyas get an early break to lead 3-1 only to see Sharapova claw her way back into the set. Sharapovas second serve win ratio was again poor with the Kazakh attacking it whenever she got a chance.
Smacking 14 winners and breaking the Diyas serve twice, the Russian kept the attack mode on throughout even when she was trailing to eventually wrap the set 6-4 in 97 minutes.
