It seemed that the match would be a walk in the park for Dulko, after she broke Sharapova at the start of the second, but Maria got herself into gear and came from two games down to take the set 6-3.

There was a really tight encounter in the third, but eleven unforced errors from Sharapova saw Dulko serving for the match at 5-4, eventually winning the game.

No. 45 in the WTA rankings, Dulko had won a total of only three games in two previous matches against Sharapova. The Argentine matched her best showing at Wimbledon by reaching the third round.

Maria Sharapova is finding her comeback to tennis tough after an eight-month-long absence caused by a shoulder injury. She first appeared on the court in the middle of May, and managed to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, but her second Grand Slam appeared to be less successful.

Another Russian Nadya Petrova was more lucky, taking the better of experienced Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-3 6-2.

Elena Vesnina came out as straight set winner in an all-Russian duel against Vera Dushevina, 6-2, 6-4.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka didn’t give away a single game to Ioana Raluca Olaru, crushing the Romanian 6-0, 6-0 in just 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Serena Williams didn’t waste her time on the court either. The second seed needed only two sets to outplay Australian Jarmila Groth 6-1, 6-2.

In the men’s game, Novak Djokovic has cruised into the third round with a straight-sets win over Simon Greul of Germany.

The fourth-seeded Serb took eight straight games after going down 1-0 in the second set to secure a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory.