General / Editor / 02 June 2007 /

Maria Sharapova's challenge at the French Open is still alive after her straight sets victory over Alla Kudryavtseva in the third round at Roland Garros.

The 20-year-old Russian ace has been struggling with a shoulder injury in recent weeks, and confessed that it is still giving her cause for concern, but breezed through the first set for the loss of just one game to set up a clash with 14th seed Patty Schnyder.

Her compatriot put up stiffer resistance in the second set and led 4-1, but was still no match for the two-time Grand Slam winner, who fought back to move through to the last 16 with a 6-1 6-4 success in Paris.

It was touch-and-go whether the 2004 Wimbledon champion would even make the tournament due to her shoulder problem and she trades at 18.5 to win in Paris, having never been past the quarter-final stage at the clay-court showpiece event.

Sharapova is aware that her injury may well prevent her progressing to the latter stages of the event, as she knows that better opponents will be waiting in the second week.

"I can't expect a lot from my shoulder this week," she said. "At times I still feel it during the match.

"I played a solid first set and then had a little bit of a let down and made a lot of unforced errors.

"I am happy the way I came back after that but it was also lousy as not a lot of people are going to allow me to get away with that."

Elsewhere Amelie Mauresmo's annual disappointment in Paris continued as she was beaten 6-3 7-6 (7-3) by 20-year-old Czech star Lucie Safarova.

Seventh seed Ana Ivanovic (18 to win the tournament) also progressed to the last 16 when she thrashed unseeded Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-2 6-0 in just 65 minutes.

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