Molik marches on
03/15/2010 05:30:14 AM
Australian Alicia Molik has continued her impressive run at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, easily progressing to the fourth round on Sunday.
Molik, who was given a wildcard to the event, crushed British qualifier Elena Baltacha 6-0 6-2 in just under an hour.
The world No.138 made the most of her opponent's poor serve in the first set as she ruthlessly converted all three of her break point opportunities to take the set to love.
Molik continued her dominance in the second as she broke Baltacha another two times before the Brit finally got on the scoreboard.
But it mattered little as Molik closed out the match to book a last-16 showdown with Australian Open semi-finalist Zheng Jie, who progressed at the expense of 10th seed Maria Sharapova.
The Russian, who won in Indian Wells in 2006, was leading the final set 3-2 when her right elbow flared up, and she lost the remaining four games to crash out 6-3 2-6 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva had no such trouble dispatching Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 6-2, while fifth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced with a straightforward 6-1 6-0 victory over Gisela Dulko.
Marion Bartoli, seeded 11th, saw off Jill Craybas 6-2 6-0, while 19th seed Aravane Rezai saw off 15th seed Francesca Schiavone 6-7 (4-6) 7-6 (4-2) 6-4.
Nadia Petrova beat Shuai Peng 6-1 7-5.