Diyas out of Maria's depth

Night five began with a women's match which made for a nice change - clearly the organisers believed that Zarina Diyas posed no more than a short walk in the park for her third round opponent and second seed Maria Sharapova.  The Kazakhstan player, seeded 31, had equalled her effort from last year and hoped to upset the legion of Sharapova fans, and experts alike.

The hopes were dashed pretty early though, with service broken in the first and third games by a vociferous and determined Sharapova whose power game presented far too many hurdles for Diyas to overcome.  Once Zarina found her range she did seem almost competitive at times, and it was a relief when she held serve to trail 1-4.

Sharapova insisted on breaking back, firing winners from both sides to both sides and frustrating Diyas who could not gain any traction, let alone momentum.

The set was over 6-1.

Maria served first in set 2 and incredibly against the flow she faced 0-40. a double fault not her favourite friend. Two forcing shots producing errors failed to prevent the break and the lead was Zarina's 1-0.

That was the final success of the night for the 31st seed who aside from competing far better than in set one could still only admire the greater quality of shot consistently being received from Maria, unable to deal with it adequately.

Sharapova won 6-1 6-1 the final point an ace for good measure.  The fourth round clash with Peng Shuai will be a better gauge of how well Maria is travelling relative to the other big guns.