Maria off to flying start in Edgbaston

Russian Maria Sharapova made an impressive start to her preparations for the defence of her Wimbledon title with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Luxembourg's Anne Kremer at the Edgbaston tournament on Tuesday.


The 18-year-old defending champion and top seed, who was given a bye in the first round, recovered from an early loss of serve to blow away the world number 94 with some thumping groundstrokes on the lush Edgbaston grass.


World number two Sharapova will face either 16th seed Samantha Stosur or her fellow Australian Evie Dominikovic in the third round.



Beaten in the quarter-finals at the French Open last week, Sharapova suffered a surprise first round loss on Monday in the Edgbaston doubles, which she also won last year with Russian partner Maria Kirilenko.