Sharapova, Qualifiers Romp at WTA Birmingham

Top-seeded and No. 1-aspiring Russian Maria Sharapova began her long road to defending two grasscourt titles during the short lawn season Monday at the WTA stop in Birmingham, crushing Luxembourg's Anne Kremer 6-3, 6-0 to move into the third round after an opening-round bye.

"I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, you don't know what to expect in your first match, but as I started getting into it I got better and better," said Sharapova, who had her serve broken in the first set, and went on to explain the clay-to-grass transition in layman's terms for the media. "It's a big change from clay. The bounce is totally different, it's low and very fast. It's more of a reaction thing."

Other seeded winners on the day were (3) Jelena Jankovic (d. Mirza), (10) Nicole Vaidisova (d. (Q) Cohen-Aloro) and (15) Maria Kirilenko (d. Fedak), while (14) Lisa Raymond was ousted 6-1, 6-0 by Venezuelan qualifier Milagros Sequera.

Six qualifiers in all won on Tuesday, with South African Natalie Grandin (d. Cervanova), Aussie Evie Dominikovic (d. Shaughnessy), Japan's Rika Fujiwara (d. Jidkova in three), and Americans Jamea Jackson (d. Brandi, bagel in the third) and Meilen Tu (d. Weingartner) into round two.

Other un-seeds into the second round were American Laura Granville (d. (WC) Keothavong, bagel in the second), Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. (Q) Obata in three), Aussie wildcard Nicole Pratt (d. (LL) Castano), and Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Vinci).

Scheduled for Wednesday in Birmingham are Golovin vs. Grandin, Granville vs. Molik, Sequera vs. Baltacha, Hantuchova vs. Parra Santonja, Tu vs. Asagoe, Pratt vs. Sugiyama, Bartoli vs. Tanasugarn, Kirilenko vs. Jackson, Dominikovic vs. Stosur, Washington vs. Razzano, Morigami vs. Foretz, Vaidisova vs. Daniilidou, and Fujiwara vs. Vento-Kabchi.