In battle of errors, Sharapova emerges with a win

The box score may read 6-1, 6-2, but the 14th seed Maria Sharapova's win over Czech veteran Iveta Benesova wasn't the kind of breezy match the former US Open Champion may have been hoping for.

Though she entered this year's Open healthy and having reached the finals of tournaments at Stanford and Cincinnati this summer, Sharapova's game has been shaky at the start of tournament. She struggled in her first round match against the 60th-ranked Jarmila Groth, losing the first set 4-6 before staging a comeback and quickly dispatching the 23-year-old Australian 6-3, 6-1 in the last two sets.

In the first set of Thursday's match against 68th-ranked Benesova, Sharapova seemed to have some mental lapses, hitting many easy forehands long and others into the net, logging 10 unforced errors, six more than in the first set of her first round match against Groth. But Benesova could not capitalize, committing 16 unforced errors of her own in the first set. Sharapova's service game was also unreliable in the first set against Benesova, only hitting 43 percent of her first serves in and logging two double faults. Benesova's serve wasn't there for her either, hitting only 39 percent of her first serve in the lines.

Just as in her first match against Groth, Sharapova began to find her game and her focus in the second set, hitting 64 percent of her first serves and notching 11 winners. Though it may not have been the prettiest game the 23-year-old has ever played, Sharapova will take the win and will advance to the third round, where she'll face American Beatrice Capra.

Sharapova entered the 2010 season finally fully recovered from surgery for a torn rotator cuff that she suffered in 2008. Her performance at the Grand Slam tournaments hasn't been true to Sharapova form, being ousted from the Australian Open in the opening round, her worst performance since 2003. Her best performance this year was at Wimbledon, where she made it to the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Sharapova is looking to recapture her title at the US Open, having last won the tournament in stunning fashion in 2006 against Justine Henin.