Easy for Sharapova, Clijsters struggles

Earlier, fourth seed Kim Clijsters survived a tough test before beating Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga 7-5, 6-0 to reach the third round. The Belgian, who has won six titles this year, struggled early on in the humid, windy conditions before coming through in just over an hour.

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, won the last 10 games of the match after 28-year-old Randriantefy, ranked 48, held serve in the third game of the opening set.

Randriantefy surrendered the match with a pair of double faults.

Clijsters, still seeking her first Grand Slam title, stormed to a 4-1 lead but Zuluaga, the world number 58, hit back to win four consecutive games.

The Belgian, runner-up to Justine Henin-Hardenne at Flushing Meadows in 2003, broke again on her way to winning the first set, however, and romped through the second to set up a meeting with 30th seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan or Czech Michaela Pastikova.

Sharapova’s third-round opponent will be either American Lisa Raymond or Julia Schruff of Germany.