By Tennis Now | Monday, May 7, 2018

Grand Slam champions moved closer to a major Madrid clash.

Maria Sharapova stormed through 19 straight points in the second set dismissing Irina-Camelia Begu, 7-5, 6-1, advancing to the Madrid Open round of 16.

Watch: Monday Madrid Social

It's Sharapova's first round of 16 appearance since her opening tournament of the year in Shenzhen last January.

Facing a 1-3 deficit, Sharapova began to find her range and rhythm.

The 52nd-ranked Russian reeled off 12 of the final 15 games beating Begu for the fourth time in as many meetings. Sharapova has won all eight sets between the pair.

The 2014 champion fired 15 more winners (21 to 6) advancing to a round-of-16 encounter with Kristina Mladenovic.

The 2017 finalist stopped Shuai Zhang, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Mladenovic has won seven of her last eight matches in the Spanish capital city.

The Mladenovic vs. Sharapova clash is a rematch of the 2017 Stuttgart semifinals, which the Frenchwoman won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Though they've only met twice, this is an intense rivalry.

In the aftermath of the Russian's 15-month doping suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium, Mladenovic was one of several players critical of Sharapova, calling the former No. 1 a cheater.

“All the other players are saying she’s a cheater,” Mladenovic told the French publication Le Parisien last year. “You sure doubt and think that she didn’t deserve all she won until now. That’s dreadful, but it’s good that it’s finally out.”

The 31-year-old Sharapova and reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki are on course for quarterfinal clash, which would be a rematch of the 2016 Madrid quarterfinals. Sharapova won that encounter, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and has prevailed in six of their prior 10 matches.

The second-ranked Wozniacki defeated 18th-ranked Aussie Ashleigh Barty, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The 2009 finalist will play Kiki Bertens for a quarterfinal spot.

Bertens beat 15th-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, 6-1, 6-4, in 73 minutes.

Sloane Stephens swept Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-3, 6-2, setting up a match of US Open champions with Samantha Stosur.