Maria Sharapova imposed an emphatic halt to Beatrice Capra's U.S. Open success story, zipping the 18-year-old American 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday to reach fourth round.

In last year's third round, Sharapova lost to Melanie Oudin, who ended up making a magical run to the quarterfinals. Capra was hoping to fashion a similar story, but her third-round meeting against the 14th-seeded Russian was a totally different story.

With whipping winds pushing hot dog wrappers, napkins and even, at one point, Capra's visor all over the court, Sharapova handled the conditions remarkably better.

Maria Sharapova is back in the third-round at the U.S. Open and for the second-straight year will play a teenaged American wild card.

Sharapova, the No. 14 seed, breezed through her match against Iveta Benesova, 6-1, 6- Thursday night inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 2006 Open champ will meet Beatrice Capra, the No. 371-ranked woman, who advanced to the third round with a three-set win over No. 18 Aravane Rezai. Last year, Sharapova lost in the third round to Melanie Oudin in three sets.

Former champion Maria Sharapova dropped the first set but fought back to claim a 4-6 6-3 6-1 first-round victory over big-serving Australian Jarmila Groth at the U.S. Open.

Groth, ranked 60th after reaching the fourth round at this year's French and Wimbledon championships, hammered 13 winners in the first set as she applied constant hard-hitting pressure on the 23-year-old Russian.

'I think she came out today and really swung and didn't give me much time to do anything out there,' said 2006 U.S. Open winner Sharapova. 'Against a player like that, who kind of plays the one-two punch type of tennis, it's quite difficult to get a rhythm in the beginning.'

The draw for the last Grand Slam of the year at the US Open in New York?has been released and Maria is the No.14 seed.
In the first round Maria will meet Jarmila Groth of Australia.?In official competition they have played before at Los Angeles last year on hardcourts and Maria won 6-0 6-4.?This match will be played on either Monday or Tuesday.

If Maria can win that match she will play either?Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic or a qualifier?in the 2nd round.?The first seeded player Maria can meet is 18th seed?Aravane Rezai of France?in the 3rd round.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova will return to Tokyo next month, spearheading the star-studded Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament, organisers said on Monday.

Twenty-seven players out of the current world top 30 will take part in the $2m hard-court tournament from September 26 to October 2, with only Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams and Justine Henin missing.

Sharapova captured her first WTA singles and doubles titles at the 2003 Japan Open, and also won her first professional title on the ITF Circuit series in Gunma, north of Tokyo, a year earlier.