Serena, Sharapova Forced to Stage Comebacks at Australian Open

Serena dropped the second set against No. 11-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova before moving on in a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory, another mental falling-off for the American looking to regain her fearful stature among the WTA Tour elite.

"To be honest, I didn't deserve to win the way I played," said Serena, who after her last match was relieved to announce her serve was back up to snuff, but Sunday again saw problems. "My serve was horrible. I made errors. I didn't play well or hit my shots right. I'm going to have to improve a lot in my next match or it's going to be a struggle. I don't really see too many positives out of the match today except I think I ran well for some drop shots. That's about it."

Serena will next face No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo, who walked through unseeded Russian Evgenia Linetskaya 6-2, 6-4.

The No. 4-seeded Sharapova struggled again No. 15-seeded Italian Silvia Farina Elia, eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

"At the beginning of the first set, I was trying to do -- I was trying to come in a little bit more, but I wasn't converting my volleys," Sharapova said. "I was making too many unforced errors at the beginning and I wasn't giving myself a chance to play my game...But I hung in there and I thought I really fought well. This was a very important you know, being a break down in the second, early in the set, I thought it was a very it was a good job of me to get back into the match."

Sharapova will next face fellow Russian, current US Open holder and No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who Sunday beat unseeded countrywoman Vera Douchevina 6-4, 6-2.

"I know it's going to be another tough match. I'm prepared," said Sharapova on squaring off against Kuznetsova in an all-slam-holder match-up. "We've played each other end of last year. She beat me once in Beijing, I beat her at the (WTA) Championships."

In doubles two more seeded teams hit the skids Sunday in (8) Elena Dementieva/Ai Sugiyama (l. to Russell/Santangelo), and (14) Shinobu Asagoe/Katarina "Robotnik" Srebotnik (l. to Hantuchova/M.Navratilova).

On tap Monday on the women's side in Melbourne are (12) Schnyder vs. (6) Dementieva (Career head-to-head tied 3-3, with the Russian winning the last two), (3) Myskina vs. (19) Dechy (Russian leads 5-1), (10) Molik vs. (8) Venus (American leads 3-0 without dropping a set), and (1) Davenport vs. (13) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (Davenport won both their career encounters in 2004).