Maria is through to the 4th round at Roland Garros for the 5th straight year as she defeated #32 seed Karin Knapp of Italy 7-6 (4) 6-0 in 1 hour and 58 minutes. Maria broke in the 1st set to lead 4-3 with a succession of powerful forehands and was serving for the set at 5-4 and Knapp broke to get the match back on serve when Maria double-faulted. The next 2 games were holds of serve and the 1st set was decided by a tie-break which Maria won 7-4 when she hit a cross-court forehand winner. Maria picked up the momentum that she gained from winning the 1st set and wrapped up the 2nd set easily without dropping a game. Maria won the match when Knapp hit an overhead into the net. In the 4th round to be played on Monday, Maria will play #13 seed Dinara Safina of Russia. They have played 5 times before and Maria leads the series 3-2, the last meeting was in Los Angeles in 2006 and Maria won in straight sets. They have played on clay twice before and it is tied 1-1.
Match Statistics
