US Open 2018: Maria Sharapova beats Jelena Ostapenko
Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova moved into the second week of the US Open with a dominant victory over Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko.
Sharapova, the 2006 champion, won 6-3 6-2 against the 10th seed in their third-round match.
The Russian, 31, extended her perfect record in the night session at Flushing Meadows to a 23rd match.
Sharapova, seeded 22nd, will play Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in the last 16.
Since returning from a 15-month doping ban in 2017, Sharapova has not been close to matching her previous success at Grand Slams.
Last year's run to the US Open last 16 was her best showing and she has replicated that with an efficient performance as another seed was knocked out in New York.
With the top two seeds Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki already out, along with Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber who lost earlier on Saturday, Sharapova appears to be moving into contention.
Only American Madison Keys, last year's beaten finalist and the 14th seed, is ranked higher than the Russian in the bottom half of the draw.
Sharapova and 21-year-old Ostapenko, who surprisingly won the French Open title in 2017, are two of the more aggressive players on the WTA Tour.
But that approach, particularly in the case of the erratic Ostapenko, can lead to plenty of unforced errors.
In a 24-point opening game Ostapenko made five errors off her racquet, plus three double faults, before eventually holding serve.
Sharapova relentlessly applied pressure, breaking in Ostapenko's next two service games for a 5-1 lead.
Ostapenko, who made 27 unforced errors in the opening set, clawed one break back before Sharapova served out to love in the next game.
In a scrappy start to the second set, the players traded four breaks of serve until Sharapova took command.
Sharapova rattled off the final four games, winning in one hour 22 minutes as Ostapenko ended with a high tally of 41 unforced errors in just 17 games.
Madison Keys recovered from a set down to beat Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic
