BEIJING: Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova struggled into the second round of the China Open Sunday with a labored 6-4, 7-6 victory over unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova. The Russian struggled to find consistency but did, however, avoid the fate of fourth seed Samantha Stosur who lost to Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 7-6, 7-5. China's leading player Li Na, seeded ninth, produced a crowd-pleasing 6-2, 6-0 over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva at the Olympic tennis centre in the Chinese capital. A glum-looking Sharapova did not celebrate her progress against world No. 32 Pironkova after a second set tiebreak ended the two hour, seven minute slog. “The first rounds are always difficult. You just try to find your way and your rhythm,” said 12th seed Sharapova. “At the end of the day, I found a way to win and that was the most important thing today.” Sharapova, dumped out of the Tokyo Open in the first round by 40-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date Krumm last month, said she was struggling to find her form. Unseeded Argentine Gisela Dulko caused an upset by knocking out Aravane Rezai 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The $4.5 million China Open runs until Oct. 10 and is headlined by Danish world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki with 16 of the top 20 female players in the world due to play in Beijing. Wozniacki, 20, is two victories away from taking the No. 1 ranking following her Saturday tournament win in Tokyo and Beijing no-shows by the top players. Garcia-Lopez wins title In Bangkok, Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was made to battle hard to win the Thailand Open Sunday, beating Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to follow up his shock semifinal victory over Rafael Nadal. The Finn saved three match points on his own serve in the final game before Garcia-Lopez unleashed a sizzling cross-court return winner for only his second ATP Tour title. The delighted Spaniard, ranked 53, fell face down before rising to hug Nieminen at the net after their struggle, lasting just under one and three-quarter hours at the Impact arena. The 29-year-old Nieminen, ranked 60, was appearing in his 10th career ATP final and stands 1-9. Garcia-Lopez, who shocked world No. 1 Nadal Saturday, has a 2-1 record in finals, winning his only previous title in Kitzbuhel in 2009. Youzhny beats Golubev Russia's Mikhail Youzhny overcame a slow start to defeat Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 to win the Malaysian Open Sunday. It was Youzhny's seventh career title and his second of the year and has whetted his appetite for more. Youzhny struggled initially to keep pace with world No. 41 Golubev, who beat top seed Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals, and went a set down before fighting back.
