Maria plays the 'love' game to leave Frazier to ponder records

Sharapova places faith in passion and a vow to volley

Progress into the last 16 of the women's singles continued to be a routine assignment for Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon when she saw off Amy Frazier 6-3 6-2 in an hour and 13 minutes. The Florida-based Russian, who is seeded fourth, has sailed through three rounds, all of them straight-sets wins, at a cost of just 11 games.

Perhaps the 33-year-old Frazier, from Rochester, Michigan, was happy enough with the record she achieved in this Centre Court match by appearing in her 18th Wimbledon, a new mark in the women's game. It was also her 70th Grand Slam event, another record. Frazier, who arrived at Wimbledon having won just five matches in 10 tournaments this year, is clearly struggling for form, and she helped the 2004 Wimbledon champion to an even earlier victory by perpetrating 10 double faults.

Sharapova has not won a Grand Slam since wowing Wimbledon with her upset of Serena Williams in the 2004 final, but she had enjoyed an impressive season, reaching the semi-finals or better in six of her first seven events, including the Australian Open, where she lost to the eventual runner-up Justine Henin-Hardenne.

At Indian Wells in the spring she clocked up her 11th career title and extended her winning streak to 11 matches by reaching the Miami final. A right-foot injury hindered her clay-court season in the run-up to Roland Garros where she went out in the fourth round.

She claimed she has never had "big expectations" of herself at Wimbledon, despite 2004. "I don't think I have anything to prove to the world," she claimed. "I do this because I love it, I love to compete, I love to go out there as long as I have the passion for it. The only reason I'm here is to hold that plate at the end of the two weeks.

"I'm not here to show someone that I'm better than others, or to prove a point. You have nerves, that's part of sport, that's part of coming out on Centre Court, battling your nerves. But that has nothing to do with expectations or what people think."

She feels she could improve her game on grass, though. "I think I've lost a few matches because I've been tentative. Some of these girls can run all day long. If you don't put any pressure on them they can run all day long, and they're just a little too good at the end of the day."

Sharapova also promised to she will try to volley more often on grass. "I grew up playing on clay, but I've seen tapes of myself when I was 10, 11 years old and I would serve and volley, I'd hit drop shots, I'd hit slices. God, I did all kinds of things.

"It's funny because I'm really good at it, it's just a matter of going to a match and doing it. Like I said, I don't want to be tentative. When I see the opportunity I've got to take it."

Frazier's first Grand Slam was at the 1987 US Open, just two weeks shy of her 15th birthday. "I remember everything about it," she said of that debut nearly 19 years ago. "I was a nervous wreck. I played Catarina Lindqvist and lost 6-2 6-1. I was first match on Court Three next to a hamburger stand, which I could smell, and I was wearing a pink shirt and pink wrap-around skirt. The match only lasted 45 minutes, but it was so exciting - I couldn't believe I was playing in the US Open."

In her time Frazier has won eight WTA tour titles, the most recent one being at Quebec City last November. She particularly likes Japan, eight of her 15 singles finals appearances having come there, and in her time she has defeated such luminaries as Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and Monica Seles. She also finished inside the top 50 for 14 consecutive years, from 1989 to 2002.