Sharapova sets up Lisicki clash (From This is Hampshire)

Sharapova sets up Lisicki clash

4:35pm Friday 29th June 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

Top seed Maria Sharapova has secured her passage into Wimbledon's second week with a regulation win over Su-Wei Hsieh.

The French Open champion broke serve three times in the opening set and then recovered from a break in the first game of the second to take the match 6-1 6-4.

Her reward is a fourth-round meeting with Germany's Sabine Lisicki - the woman she beat at the semi-final stage last year.

Sharapova will need to serve better against the German on Monday, having offered up five double faults on Friday, but her unheralded opponent was rarely in a position to cash in.

When Hsieh did break to go 1-0 up in the second she had already succumbed to a heavy first-set loss, losing serve three out of the four times she had the ball in hand.

The 26-year-old Chinese Taipei player, competing in her fourth Wimbledon singles, did move 4-2 ahead in the second set, but Sharapova quickly broke back and then sped away with the match on a windy Court One.

"She was a tricky opponent," Sharapova said afterwards.

"She changed the pace really well and her serve is really tricky. The conditions were tough, I had to face a lot out there and be patient.

"The wind was tricky but I knew I had to handle it."