KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Maria Sharapova was happy to play an 11 a.m. match Monday, especially when her work day was already done by the time a mid-afternoon shower interrupted play. "Its nice to see all the players coming back in the locker room, and Im like, Ill see you later," she said. Sharapova started early but didnt start well. She won only five points in the first four games before settling down to reach the quarterfinals at the Sony Open by beating Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. The worlds top-ranked players had an easier time. Serena Williams eliminated fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-1. Rafael Nadal received a warning for slow play and still won in 59 minutes against Denis Istomin, 6-1, 6-0. Venus Williams lost her serve eight times and was beaten by No. 10 Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. Sharapova, meanwhile, endured her second successive ragged three-setter and found herself trailing 4-0 after only 15 minutes. "I usually like playing the first match, but I didnt start off the way I wanted to," she said. "Nothing was working." Seeded No. 4, Sharapova seemed thrown off by the lack of pace from Flipkens, a tour veteran who hits floating backhands and sometimes slices her forehand as well. "Shes a different type of opponent," Sharapova said. "There are not too many girls that hit a slice backhand 90 per cent of the time in the rallies. But I know what to expect from her game. It shouldnt be that much of a surprise." Sharapova finished with 36 unforced errors and only 13 winners. She also double-faulted 10 times. But she won — and was ready to leave Crandon Park before most matches had even begun. With the rest of the day free, what was on the schedule for one of the worlds most celebrated athletes? "Not much, actually," Sharapova said. "I like to have my afternoon tea around 5. Its like a Russian tradition. Ill see my dog, spend some time with him, then get treatment, dinner, and then the day is over." At the top of her to-do list for the rest of the week is winning her first Key Biscayne title. Sharapova has been the runner-up five times, including each of the past three years, but she downplays any frustration regarding her many near-misses. "Of course you want to be able to hold the winners trophy," she said. "But you also remember the matches that you got through to get in the position to get to the final stage. Its not like I didnt have my opportunities in those finals; I just didnt take them. Thats why you come back and hope for another chance." Williams seems to be gaining momentum as the tournament unfolds, as usual. She overcame sloppy patches in her first two matches and committed only one unforced error in the second set against Vandeweghe. But Williams was impressed with the 22-year-old American, and told her so when they met at the net after the match. "She said, Listen, you played so well. Weve got to play doubles. Wed do so well," Vandeweghe said. Williams next plays No. 5-seeded Angelique Kerber, who beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. No. 8 Petra Kvitova rallied past No. 12 Ana Ivanovic, who double-faulted nine times in the final two sets and lost 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. In mens third-round play, No. 10 seed John Isner, the only American to reach the mens third round, hit 17 aces and beat Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3. No. 22-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov rallied from a break down in the final set to beat Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5). Dolgopolov has gone 6-1 this month despite his worries about unrest in his native Ukraine, where his mother and other relatives still live. "For me it was important it has calmed down and no people are dying," said Dolgopolov, who was born in Kyiv. "But theres a little bit of chaos still going on, and no one knows who is the ruling party and who is controlling the country. Its a mess." Two men were charged Thursday with conspiracy to defraud as part of an investigation into a suspected Singapore-based international betting syndicate which allegedly fixed non-league football matches in England. The National Crime Agency, which is leading the investigation, said a seventh person had also been arrested following an undercover operation by Britains Daily Telegraph newspaper. He has been released on bail with the four others. ChannSankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual British and Singapore nationality, will appear at a magistrates court in Cannock, central England, on Friday, the NCA said. They have been charged with conspiring to defraud bookmakers "by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon" between Nov. 1-26. The maximum prison sentence for the offence is 10 years. "The Crown Prosecutions Organised Crime Division found sufficient evidence and was satisfied it was in the public interest toauthorize charges of conspiracy to defraud," the NCA said in a statement. The Telegraph reported that three of the original six people arrested are footballers, with another reportedly a former Premier League player who is now an agent. Games played in the fifth tier or lower of English football are the focus of the investigation, with the Premier League confirming Thursday that it has not been contacted by police in relation to the case. The Football League, which runs the three professional divisions below the Premier League, has already said it has not been involved in the investigation. The fifth-tier Football Conference said it is "aware" of the alleged match-fixing case. "The Football Conference takes all matters relating to the integrity of the game very seriously," it said in a statement, "but it cannot make any comment on todays story as it would be inappropriate to do so." The Telegraphs website published a covertly recorded video in which it says one of the fixers claimed matches could be fixed for 50,000 pounds ($81,380). He also claimed to have connections with Wilson Raj Perumal, the Singaporean who was sentenced to two years in pprison in Finland in 2011 for bribing players in the Finnish football league.dddddddddddd Match-fixing, fuelled by unregulated betting markets in Asia, is widely viewed by footballs authorities as one of the biggest scourges on the game. Europol, the European Union police liaison agency, said in February that it reviewed 680 suspicious recent cases of match-fixing but the organizations chief of media and PR, Soren Pedersen, said Thursday he was unable to comment on whether this latest case was linked to that investigation. "Unfortunately, this is not a problem that has disappeared," Pedersen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Theres definitely enough for police still to do to look into this crime phenomenon." The last major match-rigging convictions in English football were in the 1960s. Peter Swan, David Bronco Layne and Tony Kay, who were all in or on the fringe of the England team, were jailed for four months and banned for life for corruption. In 1994, three then-Premier League players -- goalkeepers Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers and striker John Fashanu -- were alleged by a newspaper to have fixed matches. The trio was acquitted following two trials after juries were unable to reach a verdict. And in 1999, four men linked to a Malaysian-based betting syndicate were jailed for three years for plotting to sabotage floodlights ahead of Charltons match against Liverpool that year as part of a match-fixing plot. "Its no surprise to see that it has hit the U.K.," Pedersen said of the latest global wave of match-fixing cases. "Its not only south-east Asia that has problems, but Greece, Albania, Turkey and Italy of course. Its in central and northern Europe. Even a country like Finland, which is not normally linked to bribery or corruption, have had several cases. Also in Hungary, there are things going on. Its practically all over Europe." One of the biggest recent alleged fixing plots was unearthed in Australia where four English players were charged in September in a criminal investigation. Before heading to Australia to play for the Melbourne club Southern Stars, the men played in Englands lower leagues. Cheap Diamondbacks Jerseys Cheap Braves Jerseys Cheap Orioles Jerseys Cheap Red Sox Jerseys Cheap Cubs Jerseys Cheap White Sox Jerseys Cheap Reds Jerseys Cheap Indians Jerseys Cheap Rockies Jerseys Cheap Tigers Jerseys Cheap Astros Jerseys Cheap Royals Jerseys Cheap Angels Jerseys Cheap Dodgers Jerseys Cheap Marlins Jerseys ' ' '