MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova ticked off more items on her “to-do” list at the Australian Open, returning to center court and accounting for the only person who has beaten her at a Grand Slam since her comeback from a doping ban.

Sharapova advanced to the third round Thursday with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over No. 14-seeded Anastasija Sevastova as the temperature began to rise at Melbourne Park.

With a forecast high of 102, Sharapova appeared to be in a hurry to get off the Rod Laver Arena court as soon as possible and won the first set in 23 minutes.

The five-time major winner was broken while serving for the match, but recovered quickly in the subsequent tiebreaker to advance in the tournament.

Ninth-seeded Johanna Konta was more exposed to the heat on an outside court, and lost to U.S. lucky loser Bernarda Pera 6-4, 7-5.

No. 123-ranked Pera is making her Grand Slam debut and, after losing in the last round of qualifying, didn’t even know she had a spot in the main draw until Monday when Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan withdrew with an injury.

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Konta saved three match points in the ninth game of the second set, then broke Pera to level at 5-all.

But Pera clinched it on her fifth match point when Konta, a semifinalist here in 2016, shanked an overhead at the net.

Pera was born in Croatia and moved to the U.S. when she was 16, deciding to represent the U.S. She is one of only four American women to reach the second round – the fewest number since 2011.

Konta ended last season on a four-match losing streak, including a first-round loss at the U.S. Open, while dealing with a foot injury. She then retired from a match at the season-opening Brisbane International with a hip injury.

Sharapova is playing at Melbourne Park for the first time since serving a 15-month doping ban for testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open. She lost to Sevastova in the fourth round at the U.S. Open last September in her return to Grand Slam tennis.

American Sam Querrey was ousted, losing his second-round match 6-4, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2 to 80th-ranked Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.

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The 13th-seeded Querrey was one of 10 American players – men and women – to reach the second round from the 32 who started the main draws, the lowest number of Americans through to the second round in Melbourne since seven in 2011.

In a late Wednesday match, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga casually hit a between-the-legs shot that kept him in a winning point, lunged with one of his patented stretch forehands for a winner, and beat Denis Shapovalov.

Shapovalov, an 18-year-old Canadian, led 5-2 in the fifth set before losing his second-round match to Tsonga 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

“The most important thing for me was to fight, give my best on court until the last point,” Tsonga said.

The athletic Shapovalov had a few great moments of his own, including a shot around the net from the baseline for a winner.

“There’s always nerves in a tennis match,” Shapovalov said of the blown fifth-set lead. “I wasn’t thinking about it much. Just didn’t play a good game on my serve. Then he picked up his level.”

The win advances the 2008 finalist to the third round at Melbourne Park for the 10th time. He’s never lost a second-round match at the Australian Open.

In what could be one of the most entertaining matches of the third round, Tsonga will play Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who beat Viktor Troicki in straight sets.

“He’s one of my idols,” said No. 17-seeded Kyrgios, who reached the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals at age 19 and ranked 144th.


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