Sharapova reaches 4th round

NEW YORK—Maria Sharapova reached the US Open’s fourth round by taking five of the last six games after her opponent, Sabine Lisicki, was warned by the chair umpire about receiving coaching help.

Avoiding the sort of surprise that saw half of the top eight seeded women lose already, No. 5 Sharapova eliminated No. 26 Lisicki, 6-2, 6-4, in a hard-hitting match that began Friday night and ended past midnight Saturday.

Five-time major champion Sharapova trailed 3-1 in the second set. But she turned things around as 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Lisicki went back and forth with chair umpire Carlos Ramos over whether she was getting instructions from her entourage.

Still, Sharapova did not wrap things up easily against Lisicki, who at a hard-court tournament in Stanford, California, last month hit the fastest recorded serve in the history of the WTA, reaching 131 mph (211 kph).

Sharapova got broken while serving for the victory at 5-3, then needed three match points to close it.

The point of the match came with Lisicki serving and already ahead 2-1 in the second set.

She raced this way and that along the baseline, scrambling for a forehand retrieval, then to the other side for a backhand to extend the point, before returning to her forehand side for a desperation defensive lob.   AP