Maria Sharapova battles into round three

Maria Sharapova has reached the third round of the Miami Masters with a hard-fought 6-3 6-4 win over Kurumi Nara of Japan.

Although the Russian prevailed in straight sets, her opponent made her work for the victory, returning a lot of balls and testing Sharapova in both sets.

The game was evenly matched in the opening stages, but the world number seven asserted her authority with a break at 3-3 in the first set, and kept Nara at bay for the remainder of the contest.

Sharapova will take on Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in round three.