Sharapova beaten in Wimbledon second round

LONDON, June 24 (UPI) -- Maria Sharapova was ousted Wednesday but Serena Williams swept to a straight-set win Wednesday at the Wimbledon Championships in London.

Sharapova, in her fourth tournament since returning from shoulder surgery, was defeated 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 by Gisela Dulko. Sharapova had nine double faults and 27 unforced errors but nearly battled her way to the win. However, seven of the double faults came in the third set. Sharapova is 11-4 since beginning her comeback.

Williams, seeded second, had no trouble in dispatching Jarmila Groth 6-2, 6-1 in 58 minutes. Williams controlled the match throughout, winning 55 percent of the points when Groth was serving and 71 percent when Williams served.

Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva needed just more than an hour to stop Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-3. Dementieva had six service breaks in advancing to the third round.

Seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva was nearly as impressive as Williams during her 6-1, 6-3 rout of Mathilde Johansson while No. 8 Victoria Azarenka shut out Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-0, 6-0.

Also Wednesday, 10th-seeded Nadia Petrova defeated Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-2; 12th-seeded Marion Bartoli beat Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-1; No. 14-seeded Dominika Cibulkova topped Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-4; but 16th-seeded Zheng Jie was upset 6-3, 7-5 by Daniela Hantuchova.