Sharapova, Radwanska earn last-16 berths

Maria Sharapova overcame Alize Cornet in the Australian Open third round on Saturday, while Agnieszka Radwanska also won. The Russian third seed, who was pushed by Italian Karin Knapp in searing heat during a three-and-a-half-hour second-round match, had troubles on serve yet again. Sharapova dictated the contest against Cornet from the back of the court for the most part, winning 6-1 7-6 (8-6) in one hour and 51 minutes on a cooler Melbourne day. The four-time grand slam champion is into the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the fourth straight time, but will need to improve on serve after producing eight more to take her tournament-high tally to 29. She will face Slovakian 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova, who thrashed Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-0. A slow start by Cornet helped Sharapova to a 4-0 lead and the first set was over in 32 minutes when the Frenchwoman committed her ninth unforced error. Cornet won just seven points on the Sharapova serve during the set, with the 2008 champion pushing her well behind the baseline. But Cornet fought hard to start the second, recovering from 0-40 in the third game to hold for 2-1. Cornet broke in the next game with a wonderful drop volley, but was broken to love – completed with a double fault. Sharapova lifted a gear and Cornet had no answers, until the Russian struggled to close after taking a 5-3 lead. Cornet saved a match point in the ninth game and levelled at 5-5 thanks to Sharapova's eighth double fault. The pair traded breaks again, Sharapova saved a set point in the tie-break before Cornet sent a forehand long to end a 76-minute set. Polish fifth seed Radwanska survived a scare, battling past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7 6-2 6-2. Radwanska, who has reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park the past three years, was a set and a break down before fighting back to win. In a match which pitted Pavlyuchenkova's power against Radwanska's craft, the Russian committed too many unforced errors in the end. She produced 39 winners to Radwanska's 25, but an error tally of 49 to her opponent's 19 was too much to overcome. Radwanska next faces either Danish 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki or hard-hitting Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. Cibulkova only needed 59 minutes to brush past 16th seed Suarez Navarro, who committed 23 unforced errors. Into the Australian Open fourth round for just the second time adding to her last-16 appearance in 2009, Cibulkova mixed 20 winners with as many unforced errors. Romanian 11th seed Simona Halep reached the last 16 in Melbourne for the first time after a 6-1 6-4 win over Kazakh Zarina Diyas. Awaiting Halep in the fourth round is Serbian Jelena Jankovic after the eighth seed defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara 6-4 7-5 in an error-riddled encounter. The duo combined to hit 76 unforced errors, with Jankovic fighting back from 5-2 down in the second set. Last year's semi-finalist Sloane Stephens overcame a slow start to claim a 7-5 6-4 win over Ukrainian teenager Elina Svitolina. The American 13th seed trailed 5-3 in the first set but recovered after 19-year-old Svitolina failed to serve it out. Stephens hit 24 winners, including 14 off the forehand wing, to progress in one hour and 18 minutes.