In the third round of the Wimbledon Championships, 2004 champion Maria Sharapova will contest a match against Irina-Camelia Begu, whom she has faced once previously on the professional tour. Sharapova leads the head-to-head series 1-0, following a simple win three years ago in Madrid. This will mark their first meeting on grass.

Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round at the All England Club following a straight sets win against Richel Hogenkamp. She won the match after firing 22 winners and just 11 unforced errors to end the contest in one hour and five minutes with a 6-3 6-1 scoreline.

“I didn’t find the rhythm on my serve in a few of those games,” Sharapova said. “I think the good thing, though, is that I regained my timing and started tossing the ball a little bit more consistently. “Overall, it was different conditions that my first round match. The court played a lot slower. We had a lot longer rallies. I didn’t get a huge advantage off the serve or the return today – I didn’t serve my best – and maybe I made a few too many unforced errors. But overall, once we got into the rallies, once I realized I needed to be a little more patient, then things started working a little better for me.”

Next up for Sharapova is 29th seed Irina-Camelia Begu, who reached the third round following a grueling battle against Lesia Tsurenko on Court 16. She needed two hours and 45 minutes to dispatch her 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-5 and even had to work her way down from a break deficit in the deciding set.

This marks the second time that Sharapova and Irina-Camelia Begu will cross paths on the professional tour and the first time in three years. Sharapova leads the head-to-head series 1-0 following a straightforward win at Madrid several years ago and will look to maintain that unblemished record en route to the fourth round at SW19.