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Sharapova battles through the pain

General RSS / / 01 June 2007 /

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Betfair punters are not convinced about Maria Sharapova's chances of French Open success, despite the Russian comfortably reaching the third round.

Sharapova needed just over an hour to dispose of America's Jill Craybas in straight sets, with the Australian Open runner-up claiming a 6-2 6-1 victory.

Despite a straight forward success, Sharapova admitted that she is still struggling with a right shoulder injury which kept her sidelined for two months earlier in the season.

The 20-year-old revealed: "The pain is still there at times.

"For one week I couldn't do anything. I couldn't really move my shoulder up and down because of the pain."
Her opponent also noticed that all wasn't well with the second seed, with Craybas saying: "She was pretty much doing second serves all the time."

Having traded to small stakes at 7, Sharapova is now on offer at 23 to win the second Grand Slam event of the season - the winner's market is headed by Justine Henin (2.56).

Sharapova is strongly fancied though to defeat fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the next round. Last year's US Open champion is trading at 1.09, with Kudryavtseva available to back at 11.5.

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